The Congress MLAs in Karnataka – who were lodged at Eagleton Resort near Bengaluru to prevent “horse-trading by the BJP” – joined party leaders outside Vidhan Soudha to protest BS Yeddyurappa’s swearing-in as chief minister on Thursday, 17 May.
Later, the JD(S) MLAs, led by party's National President HD Deve Gowda, also joined the protest in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue.
The Supreme Court of India pulled a rare all-nighter to hear the Congress-JD(S) alliance’s plea challenging Governor Vajubhai Valla’s decision to swear-in Yeddyurappa, but refused to order a stay. The apex court will once again take up the matter on Friday, 18 May.
The shifting of the MLAs to the Eagleton Resort was reminiscent of the 2017 Rajya Sabha elections in Gujarat — from where the Congress was forced to bring its legislators fearing the BJP would resort to "horse-trading".
Congress MLA Khader told the media that all the Congress legislators were in contact with the party high-command. "The two missing MLAs will also join us soon," he told ANI.
On Wednesday, before the JD(S) also herded its MLAs into a bus to take them to Shangri-La Hotel in Bengaluru, as an anti-defection measure, its leader HD Kumaraswamy had alleged that the BJP was offering Rs 100 crore to its legislators to woo them.
Kumaraswamy, on Thursday, criticised the governor of Karnataka, saying he had misused his office by allowing Yeddyurappa to be sworn-in as the state chief minister.
"Our plan is to safeguard our MLAs. The BJP doesn't have the majority. It's working towards purchasing MLAs, " he alleged.
Post the oath-taking ceremony, NDTV reported that the Congress had decided to move its MLAs to Cochin, Kerala, to protect them from "BJP's horse-trading".
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