High drama unfolded outside the Ramada Hotel in Bengaluru on Wednesday morning when Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh came to meet the 21 Congress MLAs (members of legislative Assembly) of Madhya Pradesh, who are housed at the luxury hotel. The Bengaluru police denied him and other Congress leaders, including DK Shivakumar, access to the hotel and placed them under preventive detention.
Digvijaya Singh, the Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha, flew down to Bengaluru from Bhopal early Wednesday morning and was received by Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief DK Shivakumar at the Kempegowda International Airport.
Police have detained me, @digvijaya_28 & other INC leaders & are not allowing us to meet @INCMP MLAs who are being held forcefully at a resort by BJP.
— DK Shivakumar (@DKShivakumar) March 18, 2020
BJP is hell bent on destabilizing democratically elected govts. It has strengthened our resolve to fight to save democracy. pic.twitter.com/Bbiy0ZvGkV
Digvijaya Singh, along with DK Shivakumar and other Congress leaders, reached the Ramada Hotel in the city to meet the 21 Congress MLAs ahead of the crucial floor test in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly. These MLAs arrived at the resort on March 10. However, the police prevented him from entering the hotel. He then sat on a dharna outside the hotel, after which he was taken into preventive detention.
Reacting to this, DK Shivakumar tweeted, “Police have detained me, Digvijaya Singh and other Congress leaders, and are not allowing us to meet the Madhya Pradesh Congress MLAs who are being held forcefully at a resort by BJP. BJP is hell-bent on destabilising democratically elected governments. It has strengthened our resolve to fight to save democracy.”
The 21 MLAs are poised to join the BJP and in the process, make the current government, led by Chief Minister Kamal Nath, a minority.
#WATCH Karnataka: Congress leader Digvijaya Singh continues to sit on dharna near Ramada hotel in Bengaluru, allegedly after he was not allowed by Police to visit it, as Police tries to remove him from the spot. 21 #MadhyaPradesh Congress MLAs are lodged at the hotel. pic.twitter.com/CtWuP1rvKH
— ANI (@ANI) March 18, 2020
Singh urged the police to allow him to meet the MLAs as he alleged that at least five of them were held captive and their phones were snatched away at the behest of the BJP.
These 21 MLAs are understood to be loyalists of former Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia who quit the Congress and joined the BJP last week.
Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon has asked a floor test to decide if Kamal Nath will remain as the CM in light of these resignations.
Earlier on Tuesday night, as part of the ongoing tug-of-war in Madhya Pradesh politics, Speaker NP Prajapati wrote a letter to the Governor, urging him to ensure the return of "missing" MLAs, whose resignations he said are under his consideration.
In that letter, Prajapati cast doubts whether these MLAs, who are currently housed at the hotel in Bengaluru, resigned on their own volition. Prajapati said no family member was present when the resignations of these MLAs were submitted to him.
"But, these legislators posted several videos on social media. This has raised doubts if these resignation letters were written under pressure. If these resignations were submitted voluntarily, why no family member was present during the submission," he asked.
The Speaker said the family members of some of these "missing" MLAs have expressed concern about their well-being.
Prajapati said he had directed these MLAs to meet him in person, but they did not do so. They were also absent from the Assembly when the Budget session commenced on March 16.