Bengaluru, 26 Feb

Amid fears of cross-voting ahead of the Rajya Sabha election on Tuesday, Congress shifted its 134 MLAs to the luxurious Hilton Bengaluru at Embassy Manyata Business Park. They were herded to the hotel on Monday amid the ongoing Budget session.

The MLAs will leave the hotel after 9am on Tuesday in batches and are expected to ink their fingers at the designated polling stations in Vidhana Soudha 10am onwards.

Reportedly, the hotel is out of bounds for regular visitors. The gunmen and drivers of the MLAs have also been asked to keep away from the premises and are to hang around in the parking lot, although food has been arranged for them.  According to the staff, only guests who made reservations a month or before have been given rooms. Central Crime Branch (CCB) officials did a background check of all the guests in the hotel.

The police put up barricades in and around the hotel, restricting vehicular movement.  The tight security has flabbergasted the techies working at Manayata Tech Park.

Nagawara, Hennur Main Road, Hebbal Flyover, HBR and HRBR Layout witnessed slow-moving traffic on Monday as the MLAs and their supporters made a beeline to the hotel.

On Friday, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who is also State Congress President, said the MLAs will be kept at a hotel. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and AICC General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala held a legislature party meeting at 3.30pm on Monday in the hotel.

BJP slams Cong for shifting MLAs

BJP criticised Congress over its plan to shift MLAs to a hotel ahead of Rajya Sabha elections for four seats. “The Congress government led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is mired in enjoyment which came to power through blatant lies. It has indulged in the enjoyment of the taxpayers' money of the state and is back to resort politics again," the Karnataka BJP wrote on social media.

BJP alleged that the people in Karnataka are migrating to other states after getting their children out of the schools but the Congress is taking the MLAs to resort for enjoyment. “The ATM government has come to power not to develop the state, or to ensure welfare of the people. The Congress government is carrying out foreign trips, tours during Telangana state election, New Delhi trips to meet high command and resort tourism in the money of Kannada people and rendering them bankrupt,” the BJP said.

The BJP alleged that the single agenda of the Congress is to spend recklessly for the amusement of party leaders.