Bhopal:
A Madhya Pradesh minister on Tuesday said the Congress rebel MLAs, who are being held "in captivity" by the BJP in Bengaluru, have been "hypnotised" to make them read out ready-made scripts.
The statement of Public Relations Minister PC Sharma came hours after the 22 rebel MLAs of the Congress held a press conference in Bengaluru, where they have been holed up for at least 9 days, for the first time. These MLAs resigned on March 10, pushing the Kamal Nath government to the brink.
"These MLAs are under pressure. What is their objection in coming to Bhopal and holding a press conference here? They are under captivity in BJP-ruled Karnataka. They are being hypnotised in captivity. After their return, they will come out of their hypnotised state," alleged Mr Sharma.
These rebel Congress MLAs are just reading out scripts given to them, he claimed and reiterated that the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh will survive the crisis.
Mr Sharma had on Saturday performed a "shatru vinashak yagna" or a sacrificial ritual aimed at destroying "enemies", amid the looming political crisis. He had performed the ritual at a temple in the Agar-Malwa district of the state.
Mr Sharma, however, played down his taking part in the ritual.
"I am also the minister of religious affairs and spirituality department, so I had come to take stock of various government works for devotee welfare. We are at the Maa Baglamukhi Temple so there is no danger to our government. 121 Congress and allied MLAs are with us, and when the floor test is conducted in the assembly, we will see that four-five additional legislators support us," he had told NDTV.
Madhya Pradesh has been in a political turmoil since March 10 after senior Congress party leader Jyotiraditya Scindia defected to the BJP and the MLAs resigned.
Assembly Speaker NP Prajapati last week accepted resignations of six of these MLAs, while keeping 16 on hold.
Talking to reporters earlier in the day, one MLA said, "Jyotiraditya Scindia is our leader; we have been doing politics with him for years, most of us are in politics because of him... We are still thinking whether we will join BJP. If we get protection from central police, we will go to Madhya Pradesh and think about it."
Rejecting Congress leaders' claims that they were held hostage in Bengaluru, these MLAs clarified that they had come to the city voluntarily.
Rebel Congress MLAs also claimed that they had the support of 20 more legislators.
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