Bhopal, March 15 Is the Madhya Pradesh Governor going out of his way to help the BJP? In a semi-official letter, Governor Lalji Tandon has asked Chief Minister Kamal Nath to take a floor test on Monday.
Apparently on the prompting of the party leaders from the BJP he has also elaborated on the method to be adopted for trust vote.
The Vidhan Sabha members' desks are not equipped with push button voting system. The Governor has specified that if the buttons are not functional no other method should be used expect by raising hands.
The Congress members see this as virtual usurping of the Speaker's domain through the Governor. "The Governor is doing everything short of sitting in the Speaker's chair," says a Congress MLA.
The leader of the Opposition had with former parliamentary affairs minister Narottam Mishra met the governor on Sunday evening to request him about the voting method in the absence of a functional push-button system.
Interestingly the agenda on the opening day's sitting doesn't include a floor test. No supplementary list was issue till 11 p.m. on Sunday. Conventionally the Governor can't direct the Speaker. Uncertainty prevailed over the method of floor test.
Speaker N.P. Prajapati kept everyone guessing on his next move. His role is in focus after Governor Lalji Tandon's directive to the chief minister to prove his majority on the floor of the House on Monday.
A BJP spokesperson said the Governor had asked the chief minister to seek the floor test but he had not asked the Speaker to conduct the floor test. Can the Chief Minister ask the Speaker to conduct the floor test?
"You will know it tomorrow," Prajapti said during a media briefing. Asked who decided about the
floor test - the Governor or the Assembly Speaker, a grinning Prajapati said, "I will let you know tomorrow".
( With inputs from IANS )