Restless Karnataka MLAs want to go home but Congress, JD(S) say not till Thursday

BENGALURU: All Congress and JD(S) and two independent MLAs will stay put in hotels + till chief minister designate H D Kumaraswamy proves his majority in the floor test slated for Thursday (May 24), notwithstanding rumblings of discontent among the home-sick lawmakers.
The two parties had, early Sunday morning, decided to send their MLAs to their respective constituencies as they have been away from their families since May 15. In fact, many MLAs were eager to return home and were pressuring their leaders. The leaders, however, changed their decision and asked the MLAs to stay put in hotels till Thursday, fearing that BJP might poach them. They also turned down the demand of the MLAs to allow them to visit their natives at least for a day.



While Congress MLAs are staying at Hilton near Kempegowda International Airport, JD(S) MLAs were shifted from Le Meridien to a resort near Doddaballapur in the evening. Both Anand Singh and Pratapagouda Patil, who had resurfaced in the assembly on Saturday after going missing for four days, are camping with their Congress colleagues.

“All our MLAs will stay put in hotels till the floor test is over. We are holding another round of meeting with MLAs on Monday,” said KPCC president G Parameshwara.

Meanwhile, Kumaraswamy reportedly told his MLAs how important it is for the party to be in power for its survival and requested them to accept whatever decision he and his father H D Deve Gowda take with regard to the composition of the cabinet.

Congress leaders Siddaramaiah, Mallikarjun Kharge, D K Shivakumar and K C Venugopal held talks with their party MLAs at Hilton and asked them to abide by the party’s decision with regard to inclusion of MLAs.

“All decisions are being taken keeping 2019 Lok Sabha elections in mind and you all should cooperate. BJP is still trying to lure our MLAs, so please be careful,” Shivakumar told MLAs.