DK Shivakumar cites BJP's own history to argue why Scindia's exit won't 'destroy' Congress

Speaking about the political crisis in Madhya Pradesh, senior Congress leader DK Shivakumar on Wednesday said that leaders may come and leaders may go but that won't make any difference to the party. He exuded confidence and said that the party will make a comeback and the internal issues among the members will be resolved.

'They don't want to lose their membership'

"Congress is an organisation no one can destroy. We have our own history. Leaders may come, leaders may go. That does not make any difference. We are an ideology. When I joined politics, BJP had only two people in Parliament, Advani Ji and Vajpayee Ji. Now they have a big number. So we have confidence that we will come back. All the MLAs (Madhya Pradesh) who are here don't want to lose their membership. I am sure the legislators will understand, go back and save the government," he said while speaking to news agency ANI. 

'We are not sleeping'

Thirteen of the 22 rebel MLAs in Madhya Pradesh have given an assurance that "they are not leaving the Congress", senior party leader Digvijaya Singh said, while expressing confidence that the Kamal Nath-led government in the state will win a floor test. "We are not keeping quiet. We are not sleeping," Singh told PTI. 

Singh further said that the 22 Cong MLAs went to Bengaluru to pressure the leadership to nominate Scindia for Rajya Sabha, but with no intention to quit the Congress or join BJP. He further said that the party did not anticipate Scindia's exit, which was engineered after Shivraj Singh Chouhan failed to topple the Congress government in the state. He also alleged that the rebel MLAs were offered huge sums of money to resign from the Congress.

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In a massive setback for the Congress, Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the Congress, and 22 MLAs loyal to him resigned in Madhya Pradesh, pushing the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government to the brink of collapse. The surprise development on Tuesday morning came soon after Jyotiraditya Scindia's meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

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(With agency inputs)