Congress leaders D.K. Shivakumar and Milind Deora were detained by Mumbai Police on Wednesday afternoon as they remained outside the Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel in Powai where MLAs who resigned from the ruling coalition in Karnataka are staying.
Satyajeet Tambe, the president of the Maharashtra state youth Congress, tweeted Deora, Shivakumar and other detained Congress activists were being taken to the Mumbai University Guest House.
Shivakumar had been denied entry to the Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel by police early on Wednesday despite having a room booking. Congress sources later circulated screenshots of his booking and the hotel's email informing that it had cancelled the booking.
Shivakumar had declared he would not return without meeting the rebel MLAs. The MLAs had on Tuesday night written a letter to the Mumbai Police, apprehending a threat to their lives from Shivakumar's attempts to visit the hotel.
Shivakumar had said he wanted to meet the MLAs to persuade them to return. However, the MLAs had said they were not interested in meeting him.
Deora, who tweeted in support of Shivakumar during the day, joined him outside the hotel at noon. Sanjay Nirupam, a former chief of the Congress in Mumbai, also met Shivakumar.
The Mumbai Police had earlier enforced Section 144 of the IPC in the Powai Police Station limits, citing “likelihood of breach of peace and disturbance of public tranquillity”. Section 144 prohibits the unauthorised assembly of four or more people in an area. It has been imposed until July 12.
