Amid high-drama in Madhya Pradesh, the state's Assembly speaker N P Prajapati on Thursday refused to accept resignation letters of 13 Congress MLAs and issued notices to them to personally appear and submit the resignations.
They have also been asked to explain the reasons behind their resignation.
Earlier in the day, the Congress came out all guns blazing against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying its Madhya Pradesh MLAs were being held hostage by the saffron party in Bengaluru.
The grand old party also released videos in which the police could be seen roughing up a leader. The Madhya Pradesh Congress alleged that two of its ministers -- Jitu Patwari and Lakhan Singh -- had gone to Bengaluru where they were assaulted and arrested.
Taking two Twitter, the party claimed the saffron party had kidnapped its MLAs and kept them at a Bengaluru resort. "When the father of an MLA went there to meet him, he was disrespected and the minister accompanying him was arrested and assaulted," the party said.
"Modi Ji, don't embarrass the country."
The Minister, identified as Jitu Patwari, was briefly detained along with his supporters as he sought to enter the resort in Bengalkuru, PTI reported.\
Nineteen Madhya Pradesh MLAs, including six ministers, who are staying put in the city, had earlier this week written to Karnataka Director General and Inspector General of Police
seeking protection and police escort.
In a press conference, the Congress also demanded police take action and ensure the release of "our ministers and MLAs." It threatened to move the Supreme Court if the action wasn't taken quickly.
Meanwhile, senior party leader Digvijaya Singh said there was no question of floor test because the resignations of legislatures have not been accepted by the Speaker yet.
"Floor test can not take place as the resignations submitted by 19 MLAs have not been accepted. They should physically come before the Speaker and speak for themselves. These MLAs have been held hostage by the BJP," he said while speaking to reporters in Bhopal.
Congress has been witnessing an internal turf war in Madhya Pradesh since the party formed the government there in 2018.
The crisis deepened on Tuesday after Jyotiraditya Scindia resigned from Congress and at least 22 MLAs close to him announced to withdraw support from the Kamal Nath government. Scindia on Wednesday joined the BJP in the presence of party chief JP Nadda.
