Not in! Karnataka Cong MLAs who skipped the legislature party meet

Bengaluru, July 09: There were many Congress MLAs missing at the legislature party meeting, which was convened on Tuesday to diffuse a major crisis in the government.

While many of the MLAs who resigned are headed to Goa, others who are present in the state too did not attend.

Those who gave the CLP a miss are Ramalinga Reddy, D R Sudhakar, Roshan Baig, Tukaram, Anjali Nimbalkar, M T B Nataraj, Sangameshwar, Shivanna, Fathima, B Nagendra, Raje Gowda, and Ramappa.

While the rest have not cited any reasons for being absent, Nagraj, Sudhakar and Tukaram said that they could not attend owing to health reasons.

Meanwhile the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly said that he would take a call on the resignations of the MLAs only once they meet him in person.

Let them seek an appointment and meet me. They will need to come personally and give me an explanation, following which I will take a call, the Speaker, Ramesh Kumar said.

The Speaker who said that he would look into the matter will take a call only after physically verifying that the MLAs had indeed resigned. He also said that he was prepared to take tough decisions.

The rebel MLAs who left Mumbai on Monday evening to Goa were taken to Pune and would reach the coastal state later today. The MLAs -- 10 of the Congress, two of the JD (S) and two Independents -- were to travel to Goa by road, accompanied by Mumbai BJP Yuva Morcha president Mohit Bhartiya, the sources said.