HYDERABAD: No sooner did they land in Hyderabad,
Congress and JD(S) MLAs are already making return plans to Bengaluru. The
Supreme Court today indicated that the floor test in the Karnataka assembly should be held at 4 pm on Saturday. A total of 116 MLAs are in Hyderabad.
While the Congress MLAs arrived early this morning, JD(S) MLAs arrived later in a separate bus. "How do I know all their names?" quipped Mohd Shabbir Ali, Congress party leader in Telangana legislative council when asked who all had come. Congress leaders, Shabbir Ali and Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) leaders have arranged accommodation for the Congress and JD(S) MLAs at
Taj Krishna Hotel at Road no. 1, Banjara Hills. Some have been accommodated at Novotel and Golconda.
The MLAs spent time at the Taj Krishna lounge before being allocated their rooms. The MLAs, in a way, tried to show that all of them were together to send a signal that they were all united and that they would win the floor test in the assembly.
The Congress leaders' plan now is to ensure the BJP does not reach any of its MLAs. The leaders are planning to take the MLAs straight to the Karnataka assembly in Bengaluru where the floor test has been fixed at 4 pm on Saturday.
Congress party national general secretary Madhu Yashki Goud, who was in-charge of the party for the polls in Karnataka, also came to Hyderabad along with the Congress MLAs.
"The BJP is shameless. It is resorting to kidnapping and threatening of MLAs. 116 sworn affidavits of Congress and JD(S) MLAs submitted to Supreme Court that they are together," Madhu Yashki Goud told the media. He said Congress and JD(S) MLAs will not succumb to pressure from Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah.
Karnataka Congress MLAs arrive at Taj Krishna Hotel in Hyderabad. (ANI photo)