A group of Youth Congress workers on Wednesday protested outside a resort in Haryana where the BJP’s Karnataka MLAs have been camping in an “effort to thwart any poaching attempt” by the ruling JD(S)-Congress coalition.
Around 20 Youth Congress workers led by Haryana Pradesh Congress General Secretary Pradeep Singh raised slogans against the BJP and Union government outside the five-star ITC Grand Bharat resort located on the outskirts of Gurgaon.
The protesters alleged that the BJP was “disrespecting the Constitution and murdering democracy” in the country.
Meanwhile, sources said BJP’s Karnataka unit chief B.S. Yeddyurappa is likely to hold a meeting with the party MLAs later in the day. They said the 104 BJP legislators will stay put till the top leaders in the party give their nod to return to Karnataka.
Mobile phones of the first-time MLAs have been “kept aside” to safeguard them against any poaching attempt, the sources said.
A political crisis in brewing in Karnataka, where two Independent MLAs on Tuesday withdrew support to the seven-month-old H.D. Kumaraswamy government amid trading of poaching charges by both the ruling coalition and the BJP.
Union minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda had said on Tuesday that the BJP would stake claim to power in Karnataka if the Congress-JD(S) coalition government falls.
Karnataka Chief Minister Kumaraswamy, however, reiterated he enjoyed the support of 120 MLAs and alleged that Mr. Yeddyurappa was making “futile attempts” to destabilise his government.
In the 224-member Assembly, BJP has 104 members, Congress-79, JD(S) 37, BSP, KPJP and Independent one each, besides Speaker.
Published - January 16, 2019 01:00 pm IST
