Karnataka crisis: Rebel MLAs write to Mumbai Police again, allege threat from Congress leaders
Fourteen MLAs requested the police to make arrangements to stop Congress leaders from meeting them at the hotel where they are staying.
Fourteen rebel MLAs from Karnataka, who have been staying at a hotel in Mumbai since resigning from the state Assembly, once again wrote to the Mumbai Police claiming a threat from Congress leaders who may try to meet them, ANI reported on Monday.
In a letter to the senior police inspector of Powai police station, the legislators said they have no intentions of meeting senior Congress leader such as Mallikarjun Kharge and Ghulam Nabi Azad, or Congress functionaries from Maharashtra and Karnataka units. “We anticipate serious threat from them,” the letter said.
The MLAs, who are staying at the Renaissance Hotel in Powai, requested the police to make arrangements to stop Congress leaders from meeting them. The letter was also marked to the deputy commissioner of police zone 10 and general manager or security manager of Renaissance Hotel.
The letter was signed by Shivram Hebbar, BC Patil, Mahesh K, Vishwanath, Muniratnam, Narayan Gowda, R Shankar, H Nagesh, Pratap Patil, Gopalaiah, Ramesh J, MTB Nagraj, Somshekar and Basavaraja.
Last week, 10 rebel MLAs of the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) had written to the Mumbai Police commissioner claiming a threat to the lives during the visit of Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and Congress leader DK Shivakumar. Shivakumar was detained by the Mumbai Police while he was waiting to meet the rebel MLAs at the hotel in Powai.
Rebel Congress MLA MTB Nagaraj flew to Mumbai on Sunday, a day after he had said he would reconsider his decision to quit after meeting Congress leaders. He said there was no question of withdrawing his resignation.
The coalition government in Karnataka has been trying to win over the rebel legislators amid Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s announcement for a trust vote on Friday. If the MLAs do not return to their parties before the trust vote, the government will have the support of only 100 MLAs. The BJP will have the support of 107 MLAs.