18 Madhya Pradesh MLAs camping at resort in B'luru

Bengaluru: As many as 18 MLAs from Madhya Pradesh, including 16 Congress rebels were camping at a resort near here amid speculations of infighting in the party’s state unit.

Indicating return of resort politics to the city, the MLAs of the ruling Congress in Madhya Pradesh were taken to a resort after their arrival at the HAL airport here on Monday by special chartered flights, BJP sources said on Tuesday.

The legislators have arrived here in the backdrop of allegations by the Congress that the BJP was trying to poach its MLAs to topple the Kamal Nath-led government in that state.

“We came to know that in the first flight 10 people arrived and in the second seven had arrived. Of them one is a personal assistant of a CM aspirant,” sources said.

Two MLAs were already in the city. With them there are about 18 MLAs here, they added.

The sprawling resort near the International Airport with lush greenery is known for its cousins, comfort and salubrious views.

In January 2019, over the fear of a possible poaching of MLAs by the BJP, the Karnataka Congress had huddled its MLAs in a resort.

However, a few MLAs didn’t turn up, setting a stage for a massive rebellion a few months later.

The Lok Sabha election proved doom for the Congress and the JD(S) coalition government when the two parties witnessed terrible rout at the hands of BJP.

Out of 28 seats, BJP bagged 25 seats while Congress and the JD(S) could garner only one seat each.

In July 2019, the Congress and JD(S) MLAs from Karnataka were huddled in Mumbai and Goa resort in what is now dubbed as ‘Operation Lotus’ that saw the overthrowing of the coalition government led by H D Kumaraswamy.

Shaken with the coup of sorts,the Congress and the JD(S) went on the back foot and camped their remaining MLAs in city based resort.

Prior to it, the Gujarat Congress had huddled its MLAs in a resort at Bidadi in Ramanagar district ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections.