The political crisis faced by the ruling Congress-JD (S) Government in Karnataka spilled on to Mumbai and snowballed into a high-voltage drama on Wednesday as the city police detained visiting Congress Minister DK Shivkumar and his party’s leaders from Mumbai for refusing to move away from a Mumbai hotel where rebel Karnataka MLAs are staying.
Shivkumar, who has handled this kind of political crises in the past, arrived at the Renaissance Hotel at Powai in north-west Mumbai at 8.15 am. Despite the fact that he had reserved a room at the hotel, he was prevented from entering the hotel by the Mumbai Police officials who told him that the Congress MLAs staying the hotel had written to Mumbai Police chief saying they feared threat to their life due to his arrival there.
The operative part of the letter written by the 10 Congress MLAs to the Mumbai Police Commissioner read thus: “…We have heard that DK Shivkumar and others are going to storm in the hotel premises (sic). We feel threatened for the same (sic). We do not want to meet him. Kind request to us help us in the matter and do not allow him to enter the hotel premises”.
The day-long drama, which began with Shivkumar being detained from near the Renaissance-Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel after he refused to leave the place till he met his party’s rebel MLAs lodged at the hotel, ended with his assertion made after his release from his detention that “all our MLAs will back and our Government is safe.”
Shivkumar, who was to be deported back to Bengaluru late in the night by the Mumbai Police, said that though he wanted to stay back in Mumbai to meet Congress leaders and take them back to Bengaluru irrespective of the consequences, but he was persuaded by the police officials saying that his continued stay in Mumbai would result in law and order problem.
Talking to mediapersons after his release from detention, Shivkumar said, “I am still confident that all of them (rebel Congress MLAs staying put in Mumbai) will come back. The Congress-JD(S) Government which is there in Karnataka will be safe”.
Meanwhile, former Union Minister Milind Deora and former Maharashtra Minister Naseem Khan arrived at the hotel to meet Shivkumar. All of them staged a dharna near the hotel. Shivkumar refused to leave the place unless he met the Congress MLAs lodged at the hotel.
The police detained Shivkumar, Deora, Khan and a few other Congress functionaries from Mumbai as per order issued by Deputy Commissioner of Police Manjunath Singe (Operations and Executive Magistrate) under Section 144 of CrPC which prohibited the “unlawful assembly of five or more persons for prevention of breach of peace tranquility, danger to human lives and loss of properties and to prevent any kind of riot in the areas coming under the jurisdiction of Powai Police station” for a period from July 9, 2019 to July 12, 2019.
Shivkumar and others were taken to and lodged at the Bombay University’s rest house at Kalina in north-west Mumbai, where they were detained for the next four hours before they were released.
In his interaction with the media after his release from detention, Shivkumar said: “The BJP wants to knock out the Congress-JD(S) Government in Karantaka. The BJP is saying that it is the result of an internal dissent within the Congress. All BJP leaders from Karnataka and Mumbai are sitting inside the hotel and giving protection to our MLAs and are helping them officially and unofficially”.
“It is shame on Indian democracy…. Some of the police officials were kind. They are acting at the behest of their political bosses. They detained me and brought to this guest house. I am very happy that Mumbai Congress and Youth Congress leaders have stood by me.”
Shivkumar said that he had agreed to return to Bengaluru based on the advice of some senior police officials in Mumbai who said “my continued stay in Mumbai will result in law and order situation. I am a law-abiding citizen. I have listened to the advice given by the police officials.”
Shivkumar said he has been denied his civil rights. “I had a reservation in Renaissance Hotel. The hotel people told me that they were forced to cancel my reservation. It is shame on the system… No one should misuse law. Politicians are not permanent. The system, constitutional and individual rights are very much important,” the Karnataka Minister said.
“I had come to meet my friends (MLAs lodged at the hotel)… But BJP friends had taken a letter from the Congress MLAs addressed to the Mumbai Police Commissioner saying that the MLAs do not want to meet me,” Shivkumar said.
“A ministerial colleague, two of my party MLAs and I were here to meet the MLAs. I tried and tried. The MLAs were calling me from the hotel to meet me. Some senior police officials came and told me that the MLAs came and told me that the MLAs do not want to meet me and they have given a letter in this regard to the Mumbai Police Commissioner”.