Congress has been facing the charge of factionalism and inactive opposition in Madhya Pradesh. In such a situation, the perkiness of the state unit after the budget session 2015 is bothering the BJP government. It was felt that the Vyapam (MPPEB) scam issue has ebbed but Digvijay Singh is stoking its dying embers alleging the involvement of CM Chouhan’s wife in it. And the demands for the Chief Minister’s resignation got a big boost after FIR was lodged against Ramnaresh Yadav, Governor of Madhya Pradesh. The opposition had grilled the ruling party over Vyapam scam during the budget session. Due to the persistent demand of the opposition for holding discussion on Vyapam scam, the budget session of Madhya Pradesh assembly had to be adjourned sine die with the Government passing the budget within 5 minutes. As a result, the session which was scheduled for 24 meetings adjourned sine die merely after 7 sessions. The opposition intensified its attack on the government alleging that the adjournment was to escape debate on MPPEB scam and also accused it of passing the budget without discussion. Abrupt adjournment of budget session also had negative impact on the image of the government. The intensified attacks were advantageous for the opposition. Amidst this chaos, the government forgot to pass the supplementary budget. And so it had to call a one-day assembly session but even that turned out to be costly affair for the government.

When the one-day session was adjourned sine die, the Congress MLAs under the leadership of Satyadev Katare picketed inside the assembly hall to protest on the farmers’ issue. The opposition’s protest during 24-27 March has created a difficult situation for the government and Assembly Secretariat. During the protest, the opposition accused the government of being anti-farmer. This was the first incident of its kind where the Assembly Secretariat was also affected. Finally, on the third day of the protest, the security unit of the State assembly issued notice to all the MLAs, including the leader of opposition, to immediately vacate the Assembly premises. Security unit quoted rules for parliamentary method and process, the Standing Orders of the Speaker, Madhya Pradesh State Assembly Proceeding Rules and said that such protests are not be permissible in any way.

Katare said, “We have warned the government that unfortunate rains and hailstorm-hit has resulted in severe crisis for the farmers. Farmers are committing suicides. In such a situation, the Assembly session should be called for two days instead of one day to discuss about the farmer’s issue in the state assembly but government didn’t paid any heed to it. We have given a memorandum of 10 demands to the government including exonerating electricity bills, forgiving debt redemption for 5 years and issuing bonus to farmers etc. But government is not willing to take up any concrete actions in favor of farmers.”

The protest by the Congress, however, has been described as nothing but political drama by the BJP government, which has sat up and taken notice of an increasingly effective opposition. Now after terminating the protest inside the State Assembly, the Congress MLAs and other leaders have decided to hold dialogues with the farmers to besiege the government. They want to take the Chouhan regime to task for not favouring the farmers. (IPA Service)