Two 'missing' Congress MLAs found, reach assembly

'Missing' Congress MLAs Anand Singh and Pratap Patil Gowda, who were traced to Goldfinch Hotel in Bengaluru, have reached the Karnataka Assembly. Congress leader DK Shivakumar confirmed that Pratap Gowda has reached the assembly and would take oath as a Congress MLA. Latest update is that Anand Singh has also reached the assembly.

Anand Singh and Pratap Gowda Patil had gone missing and did not attend the swearing-in function in the Karnataka Assembly this morning. After this, it emerged that they were held captive in the Goldfinch Hotel in Bengaluru which is hardly a kilometer away from Vidhana Soudha.

Karnataka police chief Neelamani Raju then led a team to Goldfinch Hotel after which it became clear that the duo were indeed there. It is not yet clear if they were in the hotel on their own or if they were held captive, as claimed by some reports. The duo are said to claimed police protection before leaving for the assembly.

Initially it was reported that Anand Singh may support the BJP. Then yesterday (May 18) it emerged that the MLA may stay with the Congress. Anand Singh, who joined the Congress ahead of the Karnataka election, had made headlines on Thursday (May 17) after it was reported that he was not reachable and efforts on to trace him had gone in vain.

Pratap Patil Gowda was an MLA of the BJP in 2008 before he joined Yeddyurappa's KJP . In 2013 however he joined he Congress and won the elections. This year too he won the elections from Maski. It was earlier reported that he was in talks with Sriramulu who had introduced him to politics in the first place.

As per the Supreme Court order, the floor test needs to be held in the Karnataka Assembly today to ascertain if the BS Yeddyurappa-led BJP government has the required numbers. The BJP had won 104 seats in the assembly elections and emerged as the largest party, but fell short of the required 112 seats majority needed to form the government. The Congress and JDS forged an alliance and staked a claim to form the government as their combine has 118 seats, way above required mid-way mark.

Karnataka Governor, however, asked the BJP to prove the majority first and gave 15 days time. This was overturned by the Supreme Court and it was ordered that the floor test be held today, two days after Yeddyurappa was sworn-in.