The rebel Congress MLAs held "captive" in Bengaluru since March 10, where a common theme as scenes of the protracted political drama on the tottering Kamal Nath government played themselves out in Bhopal, New Delhi and the capital of Karnataka without giving a definite sign of an early climax.
The Supreme Court, which heard former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s petition for an early floor test on the Kamal Nath government for a second day, posted the matter for Thursday after a four-hour-long heated debate among top lawyers representing the BJP, Congress, the MP governor, the Speaker and the 16 rebel MLAs. The court said whether the rebel MLAs join voting on floor test or not, they cannot be held captive.
In Bengaluru, former chief minister and Rajya Sabha candidate Digvijaya Singh was detained by the police as he tried to meet the rebels in a hotel with the ostensible aim to solicit their votes. He reiterated the charge that the BJP has forcibly held his party’s MLAs hostage and rendered them inaccessible. In retaliation, the BJP has complained to the Election Commission of India against Digvijaya Singh and nine state ministers accompanying him, accusing them of exerting pressure on the 16 rebel MLAs.
Protesting Digvijaya Singh’s detention, hundreds of Congress workers clashed with BJP activists at the latter’s state party office in Bhopal. Stones were pelted at each other for half an hour, causing injury to dozens of workers from both sides.
In Bhopal, Congress MLAs called on Governor Lalji Tandon at Raj Bhavan and sought his intervention for rescuing the 16 MLAs from Bengaluru. Endorsing his MLAs’ demand, Chief Minister Kamal Nath claimed he tried to contact his Karnataka counterpart, B S Yediyurappa, thrice on phone but in vain. He also claimed to have attempted to contact union home minister Amit Shah but his call was not picked up.
“I want to go to Bengaluru myself but how can I when there is no contact with Karnataka chief minister. What do I make of this? Out MLAs are held captive. They will speak out their heart if freed,” the chief minister told media men.
He dared the BJP to bring a no-trust motion against his government, claiming he need not face floor test because “ we have already proved majority in the Assembly several times in the past 15 months.
Hitting back at Kamal Nath, former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan claimed that the rebel MLAs are afraid of returning to Bhopal because the chief minister, an accused in the 1984 Sikh riots, would crush them.