Rebel Karnataka MLAs returning to Bengaluru from Mumbai

Mumbai, July 11 (IANS) At least 10 rebel Karnataka Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-U) legislators were en route to Bengaluru from Mumbai on Thursday to abide by the Supreme Court's directives to appear before the Karnataka Assembly Speaker.

According to sources, they left by a flight from Mumbai at around 2 p.m. and are expected to land in Bengaluru at around 4 p.m., well in time to remain present before the Speaker, as ordered by the apex court.

The legislators who were holed up in Mumbai were Shivram Hebbar, Pratap Gowda Patil, B.C. Patil, Byrati Basavraj, S.T. Somshekar, Ramesh Jharkiholi, Gopalaiyya, H. Vishwanath, Narayan Gowda and Mahesh Kumutali.

They were staying under tight security at the Hotel Renaissance since the past three days and earlier some of them had put up at Sofitel Hotel, and almost all of them remained virtually incommunicado with their respective party leaders.

On Wednesday, the legislators sparked off high-drama in Mumbai after they wrote to Police Commissioner Sanjay Barve that they received threats after learning that Karnataka leaders like Minister D.K. Shivakumar and others were planning to storm the hotel premises.

In a day of fast-paced developments, police detained Shivakumar, his ministerial colleague, two legislators and Mumbai Congress leaders for several hours on Wednesday.

Late in the evening, Shivakumar and others were 'deported' to Karnataka while police enforced prohibitory orders around the hotel premises to pre-empt any action by the local Congress units.