Amid the ongoing political drama in Karnataka, yet another Congress MLA from the southern state arrived here Thursday and was hospitalised after complaining of chest pain.
Shreemant Patil, legislator from Kagwad Assembly segment in Belgaum district, said he would return after his health recovers.
"I will return to Bengaluru once I recover," Patil said, speaking after being transferred from a private hospital where he was admitted first, to a public hospital in south Mumbai.
"I went to Chennai for some personal work and felt chest pain, so I visited a hospital and on medical advice, I came to Mumbai and got myself admitted here," he said.
Patil's disappearing act from Karnataka and his sudden appearance in Mumbai came on a day the Assembly there was rocked by trading of charges after the Congress alleged that Patil, who suddenly disappeared after being with them at a resort and went incommunicado, had been 'kidnapped' as part of efforts to 'topple' the coalition government.
The Congress MLAs said the lawmakers were living in fear and Patil was kidnapped, kept in a room, taken by a special flight to Mumbai and admitted to a hospital.
Senior minister D K Shivakumar said they would produce documents to show that Patil was forcibly admitted to the hospital to skip the trust vote in the Assembly.
Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge claimed that it was the BJP which brought Patil to Mumbai in its attempt to topple the Congress-JD(S) government in Karnataka.
Police were not allowing anyone to meet Patil, Kharge said.
According to sources, 15 rebel MLAs from the Congress and JD (S) are already camping at a luxury hotel in Mumbai.
"The MLA (Patil) came here Thursday. He was admitted to a private hospital here initially, but was taken to (government-run) St George hospital later," sources said.
Congress general secretary Kharge, who hails from Karnataka, spoke about Patil's arrival here during a party event.
He accused Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of helping Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah in ensuring that the Karnataka government collapsed.
Kharge also accused the BJP of facilitating the stay of other rebel MLAs -- he put their number at 12 - at the hotel here.
Addressing a meeting of Congress workers here following appointment of Balasaheb Thorat as Maharashtra unit chief, Kharge said Patil was with him Wednesday night.
"The MLA has come here, complaining of pain in the heart. There are many heart specialists in Karnataka, where free treatment is possible. Karnataka has a hospital which is the best after AIIMS (in Delhi). But he (Patil) has come to a Mumbai hospital here ignoring that Karnataka hospital.
"Who has brought him here? These things show Modi sahab, Shah sahab trying to bring dictatorship here replacing democracy and Fadnavis sahab is helping them," Kharge alleged.
He said the BJP was "frustrated" as it fell short of forming the government in Karnataka after Assembly polls in 2018.
"Now since Modi-ji has retained power, they are again trying to bring the Karnataka government down. Therefore, they have brought the MLAs here," he alleged.
The BJP-led central government was using "every tool possible" to trigger collapse of the Kumaraswamy government, he said.
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