2 more Congress MLAs resign, total 16 MLAs quit

New Delhi: As the Karnataka crisis deepens, two more Congress MLAs - MTB Nagaraj and K Sudhakar, Chairman of the state pollution board - submitted their resignation to the Speaker of the assembly in Bangalore on Wednesday afternoon.

Both MLAs are considered to be loyalists of former chief minister Siddaramaiah and found places in the coalition government of the Congress-JDS following the intervention of the senior leader.

The resignation of the two Congress MLAs takes the total of coalition MLAs who have resigned to 16.

Earlier in the day, Karnataka minister D K Shivakumar and his Congress colleagues Milind Deora and Naseem Khan were detained on Wednesday outside a hotel where rebel MPs are holed up amid high drama and deepening uncertainty about the future of the state's ruling coalition.

Shivakumar, the Congress' troubleshooter, had been camping outside the Renaissance Hotel in Powai since Wednesday morning, determined to meet the rebel MPs in a desperate bid to pull the Congress-JD(S) government from the brink of collapse.

Shivakumar was being interviewed by a TV channel when he was almost pulled away by Mumbai Police and detained. Former Union minister Deora and former Maharashtra minister Khan who had come to meet him were also detained.

All three were taken to the BKC police guesthouse.

Shivakumar had reached the hotel at 8.20 am on Wednesday but was stopped by police from entering. His plea that he had a valid reservation in the hotel fell on deaf ears.

As the showdown intensified, an e-mail from the hotel to the travel agency which had booked a room on Shivakumar's behalf revealed that the reservation was cancelled due to "some emergency".

Ten of the 12 MLAs in the hotel have written to Mumbai Police, saying they feared a threat to their lives and Shivakumar should be prevented from entering the hotel.

"We have received a letter from the rebel MLAs," a senior police official said.

The political crisis in Karnataka has also reached the Supreme Court with 10 rebel Congress and JD(S) MLAs moving a plea, alleging that the state Assembly Speaker has been deliberately not accepting their resignations.

The ruling coalition faces the threat of losing its majority if the resignations of the rebel MLAs are accepted.

The coalition's total strength is 116 (Congress-78, JD(S)-37 and BSP-1), besides the speaker.