The 14-month-old precariously placed Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh appeared to face its first major threat to survival after the Congress on Wednesday alleged "poaching" bid on MLAs of the ruling party and its allies by the opposition BJP.
High drama unfolded on Wednesday, a day which saw charges flying thick and fast between the Congress and the BJP, which denied any move to topple the Nath government and asked the ruling party to keep its own house in order.
Senior Congress leaders accused the BJP of trying to bring down the party-led government, which is surviving on support of over half a dozen independent, SP and BSP MLAs.
Putting up a brave face amid the political turmoil, which comes just days ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls on March 26, Chief Minister Kamal Nath asserted that there was no threat to his government.
In a late-night political drama in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress claimed the BJP took eight MLAs to a hotel in Haryana as part of a conspiracy to topple the state government.
State minister Jitu Patwari said BJP leaders in Madhya Pradesh took the eight MLAs to a hotel in Haryana as part of a conspiracy to topple the Nath government.
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The BJP has denied the charge.
Nath said his government, which came to power in December 2018 by ousting the BJP, has an absolute majority and it has proved this in the state Assembly on several occasions.
He said the BJP "faced defeat every time" and this time also, its plans will prove to be like "Mungerilal's dream", referring to the famous fictional character from a television serial.
Nath accused the BJP of plotting a conspiracy to come back to power in the state in an "undemocratic manner".
Senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia accused the BJP of orchestrating a move to "poach" the legislators of his party but asserted that the Congress government was "completely secure and stable".
Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh claimed that a senior BJP leader took a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator to Delhi in a chartered flight, alleging that poaching attempts were being made by the BJP on Congress MLAs.
"Senior BJP leaders, including former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, former ministers Narottam Mishra, Bhupendra Singh and Rampal Singh among others forcibly took eight MLAs to a hotel in Haryana as part of a conspiracy," Patwari told PTI.
"The MLAs told us that they were forcibly confined by the BJP leaders," he said.
According to Congress sources, among the eight MLAs who were taken to Haryana, four are from the Congress, one is an independent and the rest are from BSP and SP.
They said BSP MLA Rambai was allegedly manhandled when Congress ministers reached the hotel to meet her.
Digvijaya Singh had on Monday alleged his party MLAs were being offered a "huge amount of money" by BJP leaders as part of its attempts to destabilise the Nath government.
Nath said the BJP "killed democracy and constitutional values" in many states, including Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Haryana, and it is trying to replicate the same in Madhya Pradesh.
"We have full faith in all our MLAs, we have no doubt on their integrity, honesty. The truth of this black money earned from corruption and scams has been revealed and all BJP's conspiracies will fall flat on its face only," he added.
On the alleged poaching episode, Scindia said, "This is 100 per cent an attempt to poach (MLAs). We are united and our government is stable. We have counted the numbers and there is no threat to the government (in Madhya Pradesh)."