Congress MLAs arrive in Bengaluru ahead of crucial Karnataka Assembly floor test

Newly-elected Congress MLAs from Karnataka, who had been camping in Hyderabad in two hotels to avoid any poaching bids by the BJP, arrived in Bengaluru on Saturday for the crucial floor test in the state assembly.

A bus carrying the MLAs, escorted by several cars, arrived in the morning, ANI reported. 

Earlier, a PTI report said that MLAs of both the JD(S) and the Congress left for Bengaluru on Friday night.

JD(S) MLC Basavaraj had claimed on Friday that as many as 36 legislators belonging to his party and 77 of the Congress were camping in the Hyderabad hotels.

Though the legislators were prepared to stay in the city hotels for a few days, they all left in the night by road as the Supreme Court ordered that a floor test be held in the Karnataka Assembly at 4 PM on Saturday to confirm whether newly-appointed BJP Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa enjoys a majority in the state.

"All the legislators left for Bengaluru by road at 10 pm," Vamshi Chand Reddy, Congress MLA in Telangana, said.

The legislators reached Hyderabad in four buses from Karnataka on Friday morning.

Congress' Karnataka unit chief K Parameshwara said his party was confident of keeping their MLAs together and alleged that the BJP was trying to woo their lawmakers with incentives.

"All our MLAs are with us... tomorrow they will be present in the Assembly (in Bengaluru)," he said.

Former Chief Minister of Karnataka and JD(S) leader Kumaraswamy earlier addressed the legislators in Taj Krishna Hotel. Later Congress legislature Party meeting elected Siddharamaiah as their leader, a senior Congress leader of Telangana said.

Political observers say Hyderabad was chosen for keeping the MLAs together owing to the rapport that Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has with the JD(S) chief and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda.

Rao had recently met Gowda at the latter's residence before the Karnataka polls.

The Telangana chief minister had appealed to Telugu people living in the neighbouring state to vote for the JD(S). 

Both the Congress and the JD(S) have alleged that their MLAs have been offered money and ministerial berths to vote for Yeddyurappa. The Congress even released a purported audio conversation between mining baron Janardhana Reddy and a Congress MLA to back its claim.

In the audio, a man suspected to be Reddy is heard allegedly offering Chitradurga Rural Congress legislator Basanagouda Daddal a ministerial berth with "100 times growth."

Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, however, said the audio was "utter falsehood."

"We condemn the actions of the Congress' dirty tricks department," he said.

(With PTI inputs)