Mumbai: Security was beefed up on Sunday outside Sofitel hotel where at least 10 disgruntled Karnataka MLAs are currently lodged. Earlier in the day, Youth Congress workers staged a protest outside the hotel and asked the MLAs to take back their resignation. They shouted slogans against BJP and accused it of indulging in horse-trading. [caption id=“attachment_6951191” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]
Congress workers protesting outside Mumbai’s Sofitel hotel. ANI[/caption] The Congress workers including party vice president Suraj Singh Thakur were detained by the police. During the protest, they shouted slogans against the BJP, such as ‘Bhartiya Janata Party Murdabad’, ‘Youth Congress Zindabad’, ‘Tanashahi Nahi Chalegi’, ‘Razinama Wapas Lo’. “Their job is that they should work in the legislative Assembly for five years. We demand that they should take back their resignation,” a Congress worker said. The worker said that the BJP is infamous for horse-trading. “They have done it in several other states too. When these MLAs fight the elections on the BJP ticket, it will prove that the BJP was behind all this,” he said. Maharashtra BJP vice president and MLC Prasad Lad was earlier seen outside the hotel. He said that he was busy with the party’s membership drive and had no idea of the political turmoil in Karnataka. The state’s JD(S)-Congress government slumped into crisis following the resignation of 11 MLAs from the membership of the Assembly on Saturday. After tendering their resignation, as many as 10 Congress and JD(S) MLAs on Saturday arrived at the Mumbai hotel.