BJP 'united', everything under control: MP party chief after 2 MLAs back Cong govt

Bhopal: A day after two BJP MLAs backed the Congress-led government during the voting on a bill in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly, state BJP chief Rakesh Singh said the party is "united" and there is no groupism.

Singh, the Lok Sabha MP from Jabalpur, rushed here from Delhi on Wednesday after the BJP's central leadership took a dim view of two party MLAs - Narayan Tripathi and Sharad Kol - voting in favour of the bill moved by the Congress in the state Assembly. "Everything is under control," Singh told reporters here on Thursday.

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Earlier after reaching Bhopal, Singh met Leader of the Opposition Gopal Bhargava and former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to find out reasons behind the two MLAs backing the Congress-led government during the voting on the bill. Singh is likely to apprise the BJP central leadership about the two MLAs' action by Thursday evening, party sources said.

He held talks separately with Bhargava and Chouhan "to know what went wrong and why the two MLAs voted for the Congress-backed bill", a source said. Talking to reporters at the state BJP office here, Singh said, "There is no groupism in the party and it is united. We did not seek division of votes on Wednesday." "Everything is under control. Everything is conducive for us. Nothing has happened," he asserted.

A source said the BJP is in touch with Tripathi and Kol and wants to win them back and ensure they do not switch over to the ruling party. A source said Tripathi and Kol met Chouhan two days back and lodged a protest with him, saying their voices were not being heard in the BJP.

Chouhan apparently assured the duo that their view points will be heard by the party, the source said. However, on Wednesday, the two BJP MLAs voted in favour of the Criminal Law (Madhya Pradesh Amendment) Bill, 2019 when it was put to vote in the House.