Rebel MLA Nagaraj heads to Mumbai, Cong leaders confident he would bring sulking colleague

With rebel MLA M T B Nagaraj heading to Mumbai Sunday after talks to mollify him appeared to have failed, Congress leaders in Karnataka expressed confidence that he has gone to bring back another disgruntled MLA.

Leaders of the Congress-JD(S) coalition held negotiations with Nagaraj on Saturday in a bid to woo him back to save the 13-month old H D Kumaraswamy-led government that is on the brink of collapse.

However, the Hoskote MLA had maintained he intended to take a final decision on the withdrawal of his resignation after talks with Chikkaballapura MLA K Sudhakar, who is camping in Mumbai along with other dissident legislators.

Nagaraj and Sudhakar had submitted resignation together to Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar on July 10.

According to sources, Nagaraj headed to Mumbai to try to bring back Sudhakar.

Visuals of Nagaraj boarding a chartered flight also surfaced on local news channels.

Meanwhile, Congress MLA and former minister H K Patil said, "Nagaraj must have learnt that Sudhakar is in Mumbai and I feel he has gone there to bring him back."
Before leaving for Mumbai, Nagaraj told reporters, "Sudhakar has switched off his phone, and is not available for the last two days. After pacifying and convincing Sudhakar, I will try to bring him back. Because we both had resigned together, so we want to be united. I have informed this to Congress leaders."
"I'm also trying for it (withdraw). Only thing is that I have to meet Sudhakar, I haven't met him. I will meet him, he should be somewhere," he said, adding "my intention is that we have to withdraw it (resignation) together."
Asked what he would do if Sudhakar did not agree to withdraw his resignation, Nagaraj said, "I will think about it and decide."