Over 15 months after he took over as the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Kamal Nath resigned from the top post on Friday.
His move comes a day after the Supreme Court directed that a floor test be conducted in Madhya Pradesh Assembly to prove that the Congress government led by him enjoys majority
in the House following the rebellion by 22 MLAs of his party.
Nath submitted his resignation to Governor Lalji Tandon at the Raj Bhawan here this afternoon.
"He submitted his resignation to the governor," a Raj Bhawan official told PTI.
In his resignation letter, Nath said, "In my 40-year-long public life, I have always done politics of purity and valued democratic norms and given priority to it. But what transpired in the last two weeks is a new chapter of devaluation of democratic values."
Addressing a press conference here, Nath said he would submit his resignation to the governor shortly.
"I have decided to submit my resignations to the governor...But I will continue to work for the welfare of the people," he said.
While addressing the press conference, Kamal Nath stated that the Bharatiya Janata Party had tried to "destabilise" his government and added that his government "tried best to give a new direction to the state in a span of 15 months". He also accused the BJP of holding Congress' MLAs captive in Karnataka in order to topple the government in the state.
"Over the last 15 months, I have worked for the progress of Madhya Pradesh. BJP got 15 years but I only got 15 months, but during this time people of Madhya Pradesh know the conspiracy that BJP has indulged in. From day one, BJP began plotting. The party also held our MLAs captive in Karnataka. 22 of our MLAs were held captive in Bengaluru. This was politics spending crores of rupees," he said.
"We delivered on our 400 promises in 15 months, BJP did not like it. It could not stomach our achievements. We also acted against the mafia, it could not thrive."
"People will not forgive those who went against their wishes," he added.
(With agency inputs)
