Arrested Cong MLA brought to K'taka

Bengaluru: Congress MLA J N Ganesh was on Thursday flown here from Gujarat, a day after being arrested for allegedly assaulting another lawmaker from his party.

Ganesh was arrested near a restaurant in Somnath, weeks after he was declared absconding for allegedly thrashing Anand Singh during a brawl at a resort on city outskirts during the recent political turmoil in the state.

The police recorded his "voluntary" statement and took him to a hospital for medical check-up, Ramanagara Superintendent of police Ramesh Bhanot told reporters.

According to the complaint filed with the police, Ganesh had allegedly attacked Singh on January 20 at the Bidadi resort with his fists and a flowerpot, hit him near his eye and kicked him on his chest.

The incident had happened when Congress MLAs were camping at the resort to thwart an alleged bid by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to poach on them, in its attempt to topple the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government in the state.

In his complaint, Singh alleged that Ganesh was upset as he suspected that he wanted to finish him off politically and did not support him financially during the Karnataka Assembly polls last year. A seriously injured Singh was admitted to a private hospital in the city. Based on a complaint, the police had registered a case of attempt to murder against Ganesh.

Fearing arrest, the Congress MLA did not appear for the crucial budget session of the state legislature.