Shortly after Mr Scindia's exit from the Congress, 21 party MLAs sent letters of resignation to the Madhya Pradesh Governor. Earlier, sources said 25 MLAs were ready to resign.

But reports suggest the MLAs, who are in Bengaluru, have refused to follow Mr Scindia into the BJP. 19 Congress MLAs were flown in a chartered plane on Monday to Bengaluru, where the party's troubleshooter in Karnataka, DK Shivakumar, claimed they would come back to the party. "This may not even be a long drawn affair... they may return soon," Mr Shivakumar told NDTV.

Chief Minister Kamal Nath has said he is confident his government will complete its term. "There is nothing to worry about. We will prove our majority," he said late on Tuesday night.

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has denied that Jyotiraditya Scindia's move to join the rival BJP, a party he had sharply criticized over the recent violence in Delhi, was driven by a feeling of being neglected in the Congress. "No question... he was not at all sidelined... Sad. But I wish him well under Modi-Shah Tutelage," the former Chief Minister tweeted this morning.

Mr Scindia, 49, had reportedly been unhappy with Congress leadership for some time. Once close to the Gandhi family, he lost the race for chief ministership in 2018 after he showed support of only 23 MLAs despite making a sizeable contribution to the Congress' unexpected Assembly polls win. In August, he was one of a few opposition leaders who supported the centre's Article 370 move to end special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

In dramatic developments on Holi morning, Mr Scindia went with Amit Shah to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Shortly after, he tweeted a letter of resignation, dated March 9, to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, speaking of a "fresh start" and saying: "...this is a path that has been drawing itself out over the last year".

Minutes later the Congress declared the former Guna MP expelled from the party "with immediate effect" for "anti-party activities". Supporters of Mr Scindia say the Gandhis did not make any attempt to reach out to him.

Congress leader and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot ripped into Mr Scindia, saying he had betrayed the "trust of the people and the ideology" and was a leader with "self-indulgent political ambitions". But many in the party also indicated that his exit was symptomatic of a huge leadership crisis and lack of direction in the Congress.

Mr Scindia's political crossover came to pass on the birth anniversary of his father Madhavrao Scindia, a senior Congress leader who died in 2001. His grandmother Vijayraje Scindia was a BJP icon and his aunts Vasundhara Raje and Yashodhara Raje are also in the party. Yashodhara Raje, a BJP MLA, welcomed his "ghar waapsi (homecoming)".