Rebel Karnataka MLAs feel threatened again

Mumbai, July 15 (IANS) A group of 14 rebel Kanataka legislators lodged in a Mumbai hotel on Monday once again complained of 'threat' from top Congress leaders. This is the second such development in five days.

In a letter to the Senior Inspector (Head) of Powai Police Station, the 14 legislators have also said that they had no intention of meeting Congress' Mallikarjun Kharge or Ghulam Nabi Azad or any other Congressman from Maharashtra and Karnataka.

They urged the police to prevent these leaders from approaching them as they "anticipate" serious threats from them at the Hotel Renaissance, where they are staying.

They have sent copies of their plea to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone 10 and the security and management of the hotel.

However, the latest letter bears no date or acknowledgement stamp from the concerned police station though it is signed by the legislators.

It may be recalled that on July 9, a group of around a dozen rebel lawmakers had written a similar letter to the Mumbai Police refusing to meet Karnataka Minister and senior Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar and others, who arrived here to resolve the ongoing political crises in that state last Wednesday.

After a day of high drama Shivakumar, his ministerial colleague, two legislators and Maharashtra Congress' Naseem Khan, Milind Deora and others were detained for several hours.

The matter also reverberated in a big way in Parliament on those days.

Later, Shivakumar and the Karnataka leaders were 'deported' to Bengaluru and the police have since clamped prohibitory orders in the hotel's vicinity in suburban Powai.