There was high drama on Friday as 13 rebel Congress MLAs from Madhya Pradesh reached the Kempegowda International Airport here to fly to Bhopal but cancelled the trip at the last minute and returned to the resort on the outskirts of the city where they had been staying in the past few days.
Madhya Pradesh Assembly Speaker N.P. Prajapati had served notices on the MLAs on Thursday to appear before him immediately. Two chartered flights were scheduled to take them to Bhopal. Copies of the flight manifest available with The Hindu showed that they were to be accompanied by Ramakant Bhargava, Vidisha MP, Arvind Singh Bhadoria, MLA and BJP State vice-president, and former Minister Umashankar Gupta.
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The MLAs reached the airport and went past the security check as well. However, the flights did not take off. While the MLAs claimed the aircraft were yet to get clearance from the Air Traffic Control, there was a change of plan at the last minute and BJP strategists decided not to take them to Bhopal, multiple sources said.
After waiting at the airport for over four hours, the MLAs were herded back in two buses to the resort at night.
Earlier in the day, a Congress delegation led by Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief D.K. Shivakumar and two Madhya Pradesh Ministers Jitu Patwari and Lakhan Singh Yadav met Additional Director-General of Police (Law and Order) Amar Kumar Pandey.
Father’s claim
Narayan Chowdhary, father of Madhya Pradesh MLA Manoj Chowdhary, submitted a letter to police officials alleging that his son was forcibly brought to Bengaluru and kept in a resort.
Recounting the drama at the resort on Thursday when he visited there, Mr. Narayan Chowdhary said, “Though my son wanted to meet us, he was not allowed by some local people, said to be BJP members, who threatened us.” The letter requests the police to provide him security to meet his son.
