The Congress on Wednesday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Maharashtra had imposed conditions similar to “martial law” in Mumbai to prevent their leaders from meeting rebel MLAs , and accused the ruling party of “dismantling democracy” in the country.
Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury told presspersons that the Congress MLAs were “being held captive” by the BJP in a Mumbai hotel.
“The democratic edifice of Karnataka has been deliberately dismantled by the ruling regime in order to grab power in Karnataka. In a deliberate and predetermined manner, they have engineered defection in the ruling party. So now, a number of MLAs have been under the captivity of the ruling party,” said Mr. Chowdhury, after leading a walkout from the Lok Sabha over the Karnataka situation.
“Inducement or intimidation are being deployed by the ruling regime with the single objective of capturing power in Karnataka,” he alleged. Questioning the police action against Karnataka Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar, who was denied permission to enter the hotel where the rebel MLAs were staying, Mr. Chowdhury said, “It appears that in Mumbai, especially, for the Congress, a martial law has been imposed only to prevent the MLAs who are in the captivity of the ruling party to come forward and talk to Mr. Shivakumar.”
The Congress leader alleged that it was a “gross violation” of Mr. Shivakumar’s fundamental right as he had a valid hotel booking but the Maharashtra government forced the hotel management to cancel it.
“We have raised the issue inside Parliament to draw the attention of the people,” he said.
