New Delhi: Karnataka MLA Aravind Limbavali was called to Delhi by Union home minister Amit Shah “about 20 days ago and briefed about the possibility of sheltering rebel Congress MLAs (from Madhya Pradesh)”, sources close to the legislator told the Indian Express.The sources said Limbavali, the BJP state general secretary, who is considered to be close to Shah, “has played a central part in keeping the MLAs in Bengaluru”.The 53-year-old MLA from Mahadevapura constituency belongs to scheduled caste and was recently in the news for losing out on a ministerial berth in the B.S. Yeddyurappa government. Last year, after Yeddyurappa became the chief minister, Limbavali was one of the top contenders for the post of the Karnataka BJP chief. However, he lost out to Dakshina Kannada MP Naleen Kumar Kateel.The news report dated March 12 said that Limbavali “has emerged as the central figure in the BJP’s efforts to safeguard a group of 19 Congress MLAs from Madhya Pradesh in a bid to topple the Kamal Nath government.”It said three MLAs who reached Bengaluru in the first week of March “were housed at a gated community in Limabavali’s constituency in East Bengaluru. The premises, it is learnt, belongs to a builder also closely associated with the family of the chief minister.”Also read: With Jyotiraditya Scindia’s BJP Entry, What Happens to the MLAs in His Camp?The second batch of 19 rebel MLAs was housed in Prestige Golfshire Resort on the outskirts of Bengaluru.Interestingly, BJP leaders have remained tight-lipped about the role the party leaders have played in housing the rebel Congress MLAs in order to topple the Kamal Nath government. Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and the man currently running to assume the top post, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, told media persons on March 10 that it was an “internal matter” of the Congress. “They (Congress) know their issues better. What do we (BJP) have to with this?”Meanwhile, Congress is reportedly banking on its newly nominated Karnataka party chief D.K. Shivakumar to “rescue” the MLAs from the Bengaluru resort, situated near the airport. Sources told the Times of India that “Around 400 policemen are guarding the resort where the MLAs have been lodged. Barricades have been set up in a 2 km radius.”The news report quoted a senior Congress leader as having said that the party had been trying to reach its MLAs in Bengaluru through their spouses.In 2017, just before the Rajya Sabha elections, Congress leader Shivakumar had assisted the party in moving 42 MLAs to a resort in Bengaluru.While the move helped party leader Ahmed Patel win the Rajya Sabha seat from Gujarat, the BJP government at the Centre, soon after toppling the Congress government in Karnataka in 2019, put Shivakumar behind the bars in an alleged money laundering case. He is presently out on bail.
