Bhopal, March 13 (TIWN) Madhya Pradesh Parliamentary Affairs Minister Govind Singh has handed a letter to the Speaker requesting him not to accept the resignations of the MLAs for now. There was also a suggestion that the Budget session be deferred in view of the threat of coronavirus.

The Chhattisgarh assembly session has already been deferred till March 23. There have been no positive cases of the virus in Madhya Pradesh so far.  Speaker N.P. Prajapati had on Wednesday issued notice to all 22 MLAs asking them to appear before him. The first batch of six MLAs was instructed to appear on Friday, seven on Saturday and the remaining 9 MLAs were instructed to appear on Sunday. Gunmen of ministers and legislators were sent to the airport as the legislators were to reach Bhopal. They will be provided extra security when they attend the Assembly, sources said.  Earlier, speaking to the media, Assembly Speaker N.P. Prajapati said, "I have issued a notice to all the MLAs. The Speaker is bound by rules and procedures. I am doing what is prescribed by rules." 

When asked if the government was in a minority and if a floor test should precede the Governor''s address, Prajapati said the question was hypothetical.  Interestingly former BJP minister Bhupendra Singh played a courier to hand over the resignations of three more Congress MLAs Bisahulal Singh, Aidal Singh Kanshana and Manoj Chaudhary to the Speaker and requested him to accept them. The Congress said this was proof enough to show the BJP was holding the MLAs hostage and coercing them to quit the assembly.  Political drama continued in Madhya Pradesh as 22 MLAs supporting Jyotiraditya Scindia, who were kept in Bengaluru, were expected to reach Bhopal by a chartered flight on Friday. However, they were unable to be with Scindia when he filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha.  Besides Scindia, BJP nominee Sumer Singh Solanki and Congress nominee Phool Singh Baraiya also filed their papers on Friday.