As political crisis deepens in Karnataka, the Congress and the Janata Dal Secular (JD(S)) are shifting their MLAs out of Bengaluru to a resort in Hyderabad to prevent possible defection to the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been given 15 days by Governor Vajubhai Vala to prove majority in the floor of the house.
According to sources, the lawmakers, who were lodged at Eagleton resort on the outskirts of Bengaluru, are on their way to the Telangana capital by road.
“We need to take some precautions to prevent horse-trading,” said JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy, who was the front-runner to the chief minister post after his party was offered an unconditional support by the Congress even before three-fourth of the results were announced on Tuesday.
BJP leader B.S.Yeddyurappa took oath as the chief minister on Thursday hours after the Supreme Court, in a pre-dawn hearing, refused to issue a stay order on a petition filed by the Congress and JD(S) MLAs. The court, however, will resume hearing on Friday.
Congress and JD(S) leaders have alleged they wanted to fly out the legislators but were forced to take the long bus ride because aviation authorities declined permission for the chartered aircrafts that had been arranged.
Reports on Thursday evening had claimed that the Congress and JD(S) would take their MLAs to a hotel in Kochi.
Congress leader and former home minister Ramalinga Reddy told a TV channel that the decision to move the legislators out of Karnataka was taken after some emissaries of the BJP sneaked into the Eagleton resort and attempted to bribe legislators.
Out of the 222 seats to which elections were held, BJP bagged 104 seats to emerge as the single largest party. Congress was reduced to 78 seats while JD(S) won 37 constituencies.