Bengaluru: A Congress MLA has ended up in hospital reportedly after a brawl with a party colleague last evening at a resort, where they were moved on Friday. Anand Singh was hospitalised after he was allegedly hit on the head with a bottle by MLA J.N. Ganesh at Bengaluru’s Eagleton Resort, the local media reported. While the Congress denied the reports, several of its leaders were spotted making a beeline for the hospital this morning.
Congress leader Raghunath, who visited Apollo Hospital, said they were not being allowed inside. Senior leader D.K. Shivakumar brushed away the reports of the fight. But his brother and party legislator D.K. Suresh is also at the hospital.
Earlier today, asked about the reports of the fight, Shivakumar, who has emerged as the party’s trouble shooter in the state, said: “It is impossible, you saw all of them coming and going together. It is all fake news, nothing is true. Everyone is together and the entire Congress party is united”.
When asked about the whereabouts of the two lawmakers, Shivakumar said, “They are in the rooms… they will come and meet all of you.”
On Friday, the Congress moved 76 of its 80 lawmakers to the resort amid fears of poaching by the BJP. Tension had been brewing since last weekend, when the party accused the BJP of launching “Operation Lotus’ – a term coined in 2008 when the party allegedly engineered defections of opposition legislators to ensure that its government headed by Yeddyurappa remains stable.
There were allegations that five lawmakers had gone out of touch – but two of the ‘missing’ men surfaced shortly, denying they had anything to do with the BJP. Four of the Congress lawmakers who have not made it to the Eagleton Resorts and failed to turn up for the Legislature Party meet on Friday have been sent a show-cause notice.
Shivakumar said those who did not attend the meeting “will also come back strongly to the Congress fold”.
This post was published on January 20, 2019 6:39 pm