Seven rebel Congress leaders return to Madhya Pradesh?

BENGALURU: Seven rebel Congress leaders from Madhya Pradesh, who were camping at resorts on the outskirts of Bengaluru, reportedly left for their home state on Saturday evening by a special flight. Sources said that five former ministers and two MLAs took off from HAL Airport for Bhopal and other leaders are likely to follow them on Sunday. The other rebel Congress leaders continue to stay at the resort, the sources added.

But sources in Bhopal said that the rebel MLAs had not reached till late on Saturday night, fuelling the speculation that they might have changed their destination. After Jyotiraditya Scindia quit Congress and joined BJP, 19 MLAs loyal to him resigned from their assembly posts, pushing the Kamal Nath government to the brink. Madhya Pradesh Speaker Narmada Prasad Prajapati has not accepted their resignations and directed them to appear before him.

Karnataka Congress leaders are closely tracking the movement of the rebels from MP. On Friday, a delegation of Congress leaders and leaders from MP met senior police officers seeking protection to meet the rebel MLAs staying at resorts.