FAVOURITE RESORT

IT’S BECOMING ROUTINE NOW

CHILLING OUT: A file picture of BJP MLAs at a resort in Bengaluru in December 2011

HOW IT BEGAN

BENGALURU: Resort politics has returned to haunt the 13-month-old Congress-JD(S) coalition government with 10 of the 13 rebel MLAs shifting to a luxury hotel in Mumbai as the prospect of a trust vote looms in the forthcoming assembly session.The Eagleton, The Golf resort in Bidadi is a favorite destination for Congress MLAs. Anticipating that the BJP would move a trust vote, Congress leaders decided to shift their MLAs to Eagelton, but the resort refused to accommodate them since a part of the resort is under renovation. The other rooms have been booked by a junior cricket team. The resort has only 35 rooms but Congress wanted 80 rooms. The JD(S) had booked rooms at Paddington Resort and Spa in Thondoor, near Kushalnagar, Kodagu district, on Sunday, but the bookings were cancelled on Saturday. On Monday, their MLAs were moved to Prestige Golfshire in Devanahalli, about 40km from Bengaluru.Ever since the 2018 assembly polls threw up a fractured verdict, elected representatives have been packed off to resorts on occasions when they have to vote together. They’ve been brought to vote on D-day. Resorts were in demand ahead of BS Yeddyurappa’s floor test in May last year. The BJP, which emerged as the single largest party, had herded all its MLAs into a five-star hotel in Gurgaon, Haryana. Congress packed off all 79 MLAs to a resort in Bidadi for nearly a week.Karnataka crisis: Follow live updatesIn January 2019, ahead of a crucial CLP meeting, Congress had again shifted its MLAs to the resort in Bidadi, fearing poaching by BJP. During the Mysuru zila panchayat election last year, BJP and JD(S) members had camped at a luxury resort in Kodagu, fearing poaching. Around 50 MLAs from Tamil Nadu were also housed in Kodagu resort at the peak of the political crisis involving ruling AIADMK, following the death of chief minister J Jayalalithaa last year.Karnataka has been a hub of resort politics since the late 1980s.It all began in 1984 when Andhra Pradesh chief minister NT Rama Rao brought his legislators to Bengaluru prior to a trust vote. Rao, with the help of friend and Karnataka counterpart Ramakrishna Hegde, kept his flock in Nandi Hills for nearly a month.In 2002, Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, faced with a trust vote, packed off all his MLAs to Bengaluru.Between 2006 and 2013, resort politics shifted to higher gear under the HD Kumaraswamy and BS Yeddyurappa governments. It was a free for all during the BJP government with Yeddyurappa facing rebellion and he himself bunching MLAs loyal to him in a resort, while demanding Sadananda Gowda be made the CM instead of Jagdish Shettar. In 2012, he again bunched his loyalists in a resort to get Gowda ousted and Shettar made CM.In 2017, Karnataka grabbed national headlines when Congress leaders led by DK Shivakumar successfully prevented BJP’s attempts to poach Congress MLAs from Gujarat during the Rajya Sabha elections. The Congress kept 44 MLAs from Gujarat at a resort in Bidadi for nearly a week.