Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)
Bengaluru, Jul 19: Congress leaders raised hue and cry over the disappearance of Kagwad MLA belonging to the party, Shrimant Patil, on Thursday July 18. After Patil, who was with the party leaders all along and on whom an eye was kept, slipped out of the crowd in the guise of visiting the toilet, the party accused BJP of kidnapping him. Patil was staying with the Congress legislators who have been kept in a resort on the outskirts of the city.
It is said that Patil was transported to Mumbai by air quickly. The action was so fast that all including intelligence agencies or party leaders keeping an eye on the situation missed it. Later it transpired that Patil had got admitted into a hospital at Mumbai for treatment. Photos of Patil being treated in the hospital were widely circulated in the social media. The coalition government's leaders, who said they have enough evidences to prove that Patil had been abducted, staged protest, duly waving the pictures of Patil under treatment.
Water resources minister, D K Shivakumar, charged the BJP leaders of abducting Patil. He also showed photos of Patil in the company of former minister and BJP leader, Laxman Savadi. Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president, Dinesh Gundu Rao, explained that the Congress leaders had gathered for dinner on Wednesday when Patil disappeared within moments. He reasoned that if he was seriously ill, Patil could have been treated here, adding that as per his information, Shrimant Patil was taken to Chennai and from there to Mumbai. He dismissed the notion that Patil was sick, insisting that he was healthy.
It is said that those who planned Patil's Mumbai trip first switched off his cell phones after taking him to Legislators' Home here before he was taken to Mumbai. It is said that police were ordered to track Patil's whereabouts, but because his cell phones were switched off, they could not obey this order. Patil later explained through a letter that no one had kidnapped him, and that he visited Chennai for some work during which he suffered from chest pain. "I was advised by the doctor to get treated at Mumbai. I will return once I recover," he stated.
The disappearance of Patil gave Congress a weapon to attack the opposition. The party leaders urged assembly speaker, K R Ramesh Kumar, to extend protection to their legislators. Even the speaker expressed doubt about the authenticity of documents forwarded by Patil to him about his health condition. He pointed out that the documents do not bear date or type of illness. He said he finds it impossible to proceed on the basis of these documents. He asked home minister, M B Patil, to contact Patil's family and file a detailed report on Friday. He also remarked that if the home minister is helpless in protecting legislators, he will have to personally speak to the police chief.
A complaint alleging abduction of Patil was filed in Vidhana Soudha police station as the issue remained controversial and contentious throughout. A first information report was lodged alleging that Patil was kidnapped.