Karnataka election: Congress and JDS leaders are still in luxury hotels since their election last week
Karnataka's wandering lawmakers are still in luxury hotels since their election last week. For three days, they were constantly on the move as the Congress and Janata Dal Secular tried to insulate them from temptations, bribes and threats to switch sides to the BJP.
On Saturday, the resignation of the 55-hour government led by the BJP's BS Yeddyurappa just before a trust vote he was widely predicted to lose, should have brought an end to their nomadic existence, but it hasn't. It's the ruling combine's
turn to face a floor test.
The Congress has put up its 78 lawmakers at the Hilton Embassy GolfLinks in Bengaluru. And the JDS legislators, whose leader HD Kumaraswamy is
set to be sworn in as chief minister on Wednesday, were at the Le Meridian before being moved into the Prestige Resort in Devanahalli, around 40 kilometres from Bengaluru, according to reports.
The five-star hotels haven't had the best experience with their political guests. The 24/7 security has severely affected the movement of other hotel guests.
JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy will take oath as new Karnataka chief minister on Wednesday
Attempts to lure lawmakers -- which allegedly included inducements and kidnapping -- have brought the lawmakers of the two parties closer; they have spent a lot of time in each other's company and it is unlikely that they have even visited home in the past few days.
Congress legislators were moved into the Eagleton Resort in Bengaluru on Wednesday, the day Governor Vajubhai Vala decided to invite Mr Yeddyurappa to form government even though the BJP was
short of a majority and the rival Congress-JDS combine had enough numbers.
The JDS lawmakers were at Shangri-La.
After midnight that day, the lawmakers were shifted out of Bengaluru to Hyderabad in three buses. Those buses doubled back after the Supreme Court ordered Mr Yeddyurappa to go for a trust vote on Saturday.
BJP's BS Yeddyurappa resigned before a floor test could be held
Mr Yeddyurappa quit just before the floor test but in the hours before that, Congress leaders had a harrowing time over "missing lawmakers". Two claimed they had been kidnapped and held captive in a hotel room.
The night before, a missing lawmaker triggered a frantic search until he was found by the hotel pool in Hyderabad.
On their return from Hyderabad, the JDS lawmakers had to move to Le Meridian as Shangri-La had been taken over by BJP legislators.