Bengaluru: As a skilful trouble-shooter, senior Karnataka Congressman DK Shivakumar may have resolved many a crisis in the party. But on Monday he could not prevent his own man, independent MLA H Nagesh, from deserting the coalition and flying to Mumbai.
The sequence of events appeared straight out of a Bollywood film where the hero tries to stop the bad man from fleeing. But it wasn’t a joyful ending for Shivakumar as he arrived at the HAL airport five minutes late and Nagesh had departed on a special flight by then.
“I wanted to talk to Nagesh. He was forcibly flown to Mumbai by BJP people,” an upset Shivakumar told reporters.
Shivakumar had played a key role in helping Nagesh win the Mulbagal assembly seat in Kolar district. A former engineer with Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation, Nagesh was sworn in as a minister in the HD Kumaraswamy cabinet less than a month ago. The first-time MLA was peeved with the decision of the Congress-JD(S) leadership to seek resignations of all ministers to accommodate rebels. Nagesh was asked to put in his papers late on Sunday night, sources said.
On Monday morning, Nagesh submitted his resignation letter as minister to former CM Siddaramaiah and then hopped over to Raj Bhavan and handed over two letters to governor Vajubhai R Vala. In one, Nagesh stated he was withdrawing support to the Kumaraswamy-led government and in the other he pledged support to BJP.
From Raj Bhavan, he left for the HAL airport where he was received by NH Santosh, state BJP president BS Yeddyurappa’s personal assistant. Nagesh immediately boarded a plane which took off within minutes.
Shivakumar rushed to the airport when he learnt about Nagesh’s plan to fly to Mumbai. However, by the time he arrived, Nagesh had left. Shivakumar later left for New Delhi and is scheduled to return in time for the Congress legislature party meeting scheduled in Bengaluru at 9am on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, another independent MLA who was made a minister recently, R Shankar, a protege of Siddaramaiah, also left for Mumbai to join the rebels. Before leaving for Mumbai, Shankar, too, met the governor and submitted a letter withdrawing support to the coalition government.
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