There was palpable tension in the Congress camp when its members started arriving at the Assembly in the morning, though many outwardly exuded confidence of winning the floor test.
However, nothing was left to chance. At lunch time, former Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who had played a key role in keeping the Congress flock together in the past few days, shouted out to one of his aides to keep a watch on the movement of legislators. At one point, he again instructed his aides to ask the legislators to come back to the Assembly lounge as some of the members, who had earlier taken oath and finished lunch, were loitering outside the lounge. In the process, a door was partially closed, which drew the ire of Mr. Shivakumar. Similarly, some of the aides of other Ministers were also seen running around keeping a close watch on the newly-elected leaders and kept relaying messages on their movement or safety back to their leaders. “Though we are confident of not losing our MLAs, we are taking precautions to ensure that they do not interact with BJP members in their party lounge,” a former Congress Minister said.
