New Delhi: The political drama continued in Karnataka as the Congress flashed photographs of MLA Shrimant Patil, who was staying at the Windflower Prakruthi Resort in Bengaluru, admitted to a Mumbai hospital. The MLA said he was suffering from chest pain.
The development comes on the day when Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy moved the trust motion in the Karnataka Assembly on Thursday.
Patil has been shifted to Mumbai's St George Hospital from the Bombay Hospital and Medical Research Centre and is undergoing treatment there.
Asking Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar to protect their party MLAs, Congress leader DK Shivakumar said in the Assembly, "There were eight MLAs who travelled together, here is a picture of one of them (Shrimant Patil) lying inert on a stretcher, where are these people? I'm asking the Speaker to protect our MLAs.”
Amid the rising drama over Patil’s absence, Kumar said it "does not look natural". He added, "Please contact the family members of Shrimant Patil immediately and give a detailed report to me by tomorrow. If the Home Minister can't ensure protection, I will talk to DGP.”
Kumar also said he cannot proceed with the document submitted to him by Patil informing him about his ill health as it did not have a date or a letterhead. He also asked the government to submit a report on the Congress MLA "abducted" by the BJP by Friday. This could also mean that the Speaker can postpone the trust vote to the next day.
Meanwhile, the BJP delegation met Governor Vajubhai Vala and submitted a memorandum to direct the Speaker to conduct the trust vote today. It also accused the Congress-JD(S) government of disrespecting the Constitution for the greed of power.
The proceedings of the floor test are underway. The vote of confidence comes a day after the Supreme Court said 15 rebel Congress-JD(S) MLAs in Karnataka "ought not" to be compelled to participate in the proceedings of the ongoing session of the Assembly, virtually sounding the death knell for the Kumaraswamy government. If the resignations of the 15 MLAs are accepted or if they stay away from the Assembly, the ruling coalition's tally will plummet to 102, reducing the government to a minority.
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