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NCP MLAs leave for Bangalore

MLAs and ministers belonging to the Nationalist Congress Party, a major partner in the Democratic Front government in Maharashtra who were taken to Indore to prevent further defections in the party, left for Mumbai enroute to Bangalore on Saturday morning.

Defections from the NCP have reduced the NCP-Congress ruling coalition in Maharashtra to a minority. After Governor P C Alexander asked Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to prove his majority in the state assembly, the Democratic Front alliance decided to do so on June 13.

The NCP ferried nearly 53 MLAs, two of them cabinet ministers, to the Madhya Pradesh city on Thursday in a bid to keep its flock together.

The Congress also transported its MLAs to Bangalore.

Maharashtra Excise Minister Anil Deshmukh denied that the MLAs were leaving because of Friday's protest at Dewas and Ujjain by Bharatiya Janata Party workers.

Sources close to the NCP MLAs said they would catch a flight to Bangalore from Mumbai and are not likely to leave the city's Santacruz airport.

NCP spokesperson Praful Patel confirmed that his party MLAs are being shifted to Bangalore. He said the party wanted the Congress and NCP MLAs to stay together, that is why they are joining their Congress counterparts.

The Congress MLAs are currently staying at film star Sanjay Khan's five star resort on the outskirts of Bangalore, party sources said.

Meanwhile, MLAs belonging to the Shiv Sena and BJP are lodged in a suburban five star hotel in Mumbai. They have been asked to remain in the metropolis till the House takes up the vote of confidence on June 13.

BJP vice-president Gopinath Munde said the saffron combine was not worried of the DF luring its MLAs.

"We are confident our MLAs will not switch loyalties. Compared to ruling front MLAs, who were flown out of the state, we are asking our MLAs to remain in the city," he said.

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