"Manhandling ministers and MLAs is very annoying and unbecoming of #MumbaiPolice," tweeted Kumaraswamy on reports that state Water Resources Minister (Congress) D.K. Shivakumar and state Higher Education Minister (JD-S) G.T. Deve Gowda were manhandled and whisked away to a university campus guest house for detention under preventive custody from a star hotel in Mumbai earlier in the day.
Ruling Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) legislator Shivalinge Gowda, who was with the two ministers, was also reportedly roughed up by the Mumbai Police.
"Such hasty acts by the (Bharatiya Janata Party ruled) Maharashtra government reinforces the suspicion on #BJP of #HorseTrading," Kumaraswamy tweeted.
Shivakumar, known as the party's troubleshooter and saviour, flew to Mumbai early in the day from Bengaluru, ostensibly to meet the 10 rebel legislators from the Congress-JD-S who had resigned and are staying in the hotel since July 6 night, and to pacify them so that they withdraw their resignations.
Of the 10 rebel lawmakers in Mumbai, seven are from the Congress and three from the JD-S.
"This is a black mark on the republic set up of our country," tweeted the Chief Minister, tagging Maharashtra's Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
As the rebels refused to meet Shivakumar and sought police security fearing a threat to their lives from him, the Congress minister was not allowed to enter the hotel though he too booked a room to stay in the same hotel.
( With inputs from IANS )