Special spa sessions for MLAs before Assembly grind

All this, they say is to keep their mind free and fresh for the session when they have to work towards choosing the right man to lead the State.

Most of the MLAs are either in Goa, in Mumbai or in various parts of the State, where resorts have made special arrangements to house them till October 11, when the special Assembly session will take place.

The ruling BJP chose to camp at the Golden Palms Hotel and Spa in Hesarghatta, owned by film personality Sanjay Khan. The MLAs checked in by afternoon and were welcomed by a drink, which they sipped as they strutted into their luxury rooms. Each of the rooms cost Rs 12,000 to Rs 35,000 and are shared by two people.

When they went to have lunch, the food was so rich that the MLAs couldn’t ask for more as they gorged on the spread in front of them. They later dragged themselves to a Legislature Party meeting, deftly organised by the party to brief them about the upcoming special session and attended by Chief Minister B S Yedyurappa and national leaders Venkaiah Naidu and H N Ananth Kumar.

After the meeting when there was “non-stop discussion about political developments”, they had dinner, also as rich a fare as the day’s lunch. They then retired to their rooms after being told about the yoga session MLA C T Ravi will conduct on Friday. And when asked if they knew who was footing the bill for all that they were being treated to, they said, “We do not know.”

Even the rebel camp MLAs did not know who took care of the bills as they hopped from Chennai to Kochi to Shirdi to Mumbai and finally settled down at the Taj Exotica in Goa. Leave alone bills, they were probably not even thinking of the political crisis as they rushed down airport alleys pulling their luggage trolleys.

They seemed eager to have a rollicking time at the resorts where according to a former minister, “our minds would be free”. As though to compete with the BJP, the Opposition Congress, too, turned resort-savvy. The party MLAs were first put up in Clarks Exotica Airport hotel near Devanahalli on Wednesday evening. The hotel is owned by the Colaco Group, with which KPCC working President D K Shivakumar is said to have close ties.

Tariff of rooms in Clarks Exotica varies from Rs 4,500 to Rs 8,000 per night. As many as 60 Congress MLAs stayed put in the hotel till late evening on Thursday before leaving for Amby Valley in Pune by a special flight. The rest of the Congress members will join the group at Amby Valley, owned by the Sahara group.

A room in the Valley costs between Rs 11,000 and 26,000 per night. The MLAs have no plans to return to Bangalore till October 11. Congress Rajya Sabha member Anil Lad is said to have made arrangements for stay at  Amby Valley. The crisis thus has come as a boon in disguise for both the MLAs and the resorts. The flip side is that the trend which has its roots in North Indian states like Bihar and Jharkhand is slowly becoming a political norm in the country’s South.