Hyderabad: Karnataka Congress and JD(S) MLAs who reached here on Friday morning left for home in the night to vote in the Assembly on Saturday.
The MLAs will have spent 16 hours in buses, travelling to and from Bengaluru. Their stay in star hotels in the city lasted all of 16 hours.
The MLAs of both parties reached Hyderabad at about 9 am. The expectation was that they would have to spend some days at Hyderabad. After they reached the city came the news that the Supreme Court had directed Karn-ataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa to hold the floor test on Saturday.
The Governor has summoned the Assembly at 11 am on Saturday, and the MLAs rushed back to Be-ngaluru at about 10 pm. The bus trip takes about eight hours, adding up to 16 hours for the 2-day trip. Their stay in the hotel lasted a mere 12 hours.
TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy said the party was considering two options to send the MLAs back to Bengaluru. He said there was a plan to send the MLAs in special flights but that was abandoned following the experiences of Thursday night and Friday.
City was picked for safety reasons
After civil aviation authorities refused permission for a special flight to Kochi, the Congress and JD(S) considered two options to send party MLAs for their camps.
One was Hyderabad, where they eventually landed, and Chennai whi-ch is close to Bengaluru.
The first plan was to send the MLAs to Chennai because of its proximity to the Karnataka capital. However, there were doubts as the AIADMK, the ruling party in Tamil Nadu, is friendly with the BJP. There was fear that the AIADMK government could cause problems for the MLAs.
Disconcerted by the denial permission of fly to Kochi, the Congress and JD(S) leaderships chose to play safe and opted for Hyderabad.
Telangana CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao is a supporter of the JD(S) and had called for voters to support the party before the Karnataka elections.
In the fluid situation after the results were announced, Mr Rao expressed the wish that JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy must become Chief Minister. With Hyderabad chosen, the MLAs took three buses and reached the city in the morning.
