The two legislators had an argument after Ganesh allegedly tried to jump ship and join the BJP, says reports
The political bogmarsh in which Karnataka's Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress regime finds itself refuses to ease. On Sunday, Congress MLA Anand Singh was sent to hospital after an alleged brawl with his party colleague JN Ganesh at Bengaluru's Eagleton Resort, where the lawmakers had been shifted two days ago, ostensibly to keep the BJP from trying to poach them.
The two legislators had an argument after Ganesh allegedly tried to jump ship and join the BJP, reports said. But senior Congress leaders denied the reports. Party MP DK Suresh, who visited Singh in hospital, said the MLA had been admitted after he complained of chest pain.
"I don't know about the fight. Anand Singh is in hospital due to chest pain. There are no injuries or anything. All this is speculation," MP Suresh said after the visit.
But BJP was quick to seize upon the episode as proof of infighting within Congress.
At the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting on Friday, four of 79 party MLAs failed to turn up.
The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee has issued notices to the four MLAs — Ramesh Jarkiholi, B Nagendra, Umesh Jadhav and Mahesh Kumatahalli — who defied the party whip by skipping the meeting. Turn to P4
Congress leader and the state's former chief minister Siddaramaiah had warned the MLAs that their absence fromt he meeting, which had been called to take stock of the party's flock, would be viewed "seriously".
Meanwhile, BJP MLAs from the state who were camping at Gurugram at a private resort have returned to the state.
Senior BJP leader and former Karnataka deputy chief minister KS Eshwarappa said the coalition government was facing "internal bickering".
"The present political turbulence is because of the internal bickering in the Congress. Their leaders have been needlessly levelling allegations against the BJP. In fact, there is no need for the BJP to indulge in Operation Kamala to topple the Congress-JD(S) coalition government," he said.
"Unlike the Congress, all our 104 BJP MLAs are together. The BJP will form the government," he added.
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