The two “missing” Congress MLAs — Anand Singh and Pratapgouda Patil — who turned up at a private hotel in the city on the crucial day of the floor test, caused much political tension before they emerged and joined the Congress camp at the Vidhana Soudha on Saturday evening.
As MLAs started taking oath on Saturday, Mr. Singh and Mr. Patil were conspicuous by their absence and were rumoured to be in the BJP camp. With a lead on their whereabouts, former Minister D.K. Shivakumar and his brother D.K. Suresh, MP, Bengaluru Rural, took the lead to bring the two to the Congress camp.
When Mr. Suresh went to the private hotel where the two MLAs were staying with G. Somashekhar Reddy, BJP MLA, the hotel management refused to let him in. Following a heated argument at the hotel, DG&IGP Neelamani Raju and Bengaluru Commissioner T. Suneel Kumar rushed to the spot to intervene in a fast-escalating situation. Sources said the MLAs were consulted and they came out of their own will and met a delegation of Congress leaders. A senior Congress leader said they had even contemplated approaching the High Court with a habeas corpus petition on the missing MLAs if they were not able to find them.
Mr. Patil and later even Mr. Singh left the hotel with the Congress leaders to reach the Vidhana Soudha and was welcomed by D.K. Shivakumar. He guided both the MLAs into the Assembly hall, holding their hands and not allowing others to speak to them. When Mr. Patil entered the Vidhana Soudha, S.R. Viswanath, BJP MLA, tried to drag him towards the BJP camp, when a Congress leader pulled him away to the Congress camp.
Mr. Shivakumar refused to speak about where the MLAs had been and who had taken them. “They were stuck due to some personal issues and are now back with the party,” is all he said. The return of the two MLAs was probably the last straw, and minutes later B.S. Yeddyurappa announced his resignation, even before taking a floor test.
