‘Misunderstanding will be resolved’: Kamal Nath after Mayawati’s threat to pull out of MP govt

Faced by an apparent threat to his government, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath has reached out to Mayawati after the BSP chief said she might reconsider her support to the Congress in the central state.

The Kamal Nath-led Congress government has 114 members in the 230 member assembly and formed the government with the support of four Independents, two BSP MLAs and one Samajwadi Party legislator. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is not far behind with 109 MLAs.

Mayawati was peeved after the BSP’s Guna candidate Lokendra Singh Rajput quit the party on Monday to join the Congress to help their candidate Jyotiraditya Scindia, who has been winning the seat since 2002.

“The BSP candidate was intimidated and threatened and forced to drop out. The BSP will give a reply by contesting under its own symbol and will also consider whether to continue its support to the state Congress government,” Mayawati had tweeted after Rajput crossed over.

The Congress party has since denied that Rajput was forced by it and said his ‘defection’ was an exercise of his democratic right.

“Our and BSP’s goal is the same; the ouster of BJP. Our ideology is also the same. We have to stick together. There is no divide and whatever misunderstanding there is will be resolved,” Nath said on Wednesday.

Kamal Nath and Mayawati have had a rocky relationship in the past. The Congress was in talks about a pre-poll alliance with the BSP before the assembly elections in November last year but it fell through.

Mayawati had blamed the Congress for the breakup of the pre-poll alliance. Kamal Nath, on his part, said Mayawati had demanded seats where the BSP was not strong and that giving in to her demand would have benefitted the BJP.

Mayawati, however, had extended her support after the Congress fell short of a majority even though it emerged as the largest party in the assembly election.