Congress Crisis: Sonia, Rahul, Other Congress Leaders Protest Against Karnataka, Goa Issue

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi along with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Anand Sharma on Thursday staged a protest in the national capital over Karnataka and Goa issues, where large-scale defection of MLAs to BJP, has pushed the party in a serious trouble.

Image courtesy: ANI

New Delhi: As Congress remains stuck in omnishambles with several crises troubling the party simultaneously, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi along with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Anand Sharma on Thursday staged a protest in the national capital over Karnataka and Goa issues, where large-scale defection of MLAs to BJP, has pushed the party in a serious trouble. The leaders protested in front of Gandhi statue in Parliament with placards reading "save democracy." Talking to news agency ANI Rahul Gandhi said: “We are protesting against Karnataka and Goa issue." In Karnataka, as many as 16 legislators of the JDS-Congress combine have resigned, withdrawing support to the coalition government. On similar lines in Goa, 10 out of 15 MLAs defected to BJP reducing Congress to mere 5 MLAs while increasing the saffron party’s strength in the Goa Assembly to 27 in the 40-seat house. In Karnataka, a high drama has been witnessed ever since the MLAs quit their posts. On Wednesday senior Karnataka Congress leader and Minister D.K. Shivakumar, Maharashtra Congress Deputy Leader in Assembly Naseem Khan, Mumbai Congress leader Milind M. Deora and others were detained by the Mumbai Police outside Hotel Renaissance, before they could intervene to resolve the political crisis in Karnataka. Ten rebel MLAs of Karnataka's Congress-Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) coalition government are holed up at the Mumbai hotel since they resigned on Saturday. The Congress on Wednesday evening protested the detention of the leaders. The Congress has already taken the issue to the Parliament blamig BJP for engineering the defections in Karnataka. Terming the BJP a "poacher party", Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Monday alleged the BJP-ruled government is hatching a conspiracy to break the Congress-led government in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. On Tuesday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi joined his party members in raising slogans in Lok Sabha over the developments in Karnataka, in a rare incident. In Goa, reacting to ten out of 15 party MLAs joining the ruling BJP, Goa Congress chief Girish Chodankar said the BJP's goal was to create "one nation one party" situation in the country.