BANGALORE: Karnataka Congress working president Eshwara Khandre, also known as 'Troubleshooter,' was the first to strike, on Saturday morning.
He rushed to the residence of former state minister-turned-rebel party leader Ramalinga Reddy in Bangalore but sent a signal to senior leaders K C Venugopal, Siddaramaiah and others that his efforts went in vain.
Congress then unleashed its other 'Troubleshooter,' D K Shivakumar to cool down the situation. He entered Vidhan Soudha after cutting short and cancelling his scheduled meetings in Kanakapura, about an hour's drive from here.
He drove straight to the Vidhana Soudha on Saturday afternoon and to the state Assembly Speaker's office and met with the rebel MLAs Ramalinga Reddy, Byrati Basavraj, ST Somashekar, Munirathna.
He then herded them into vehicles and drove off to a safe location to win over the sulking MLAs. But all of them refused and went to the Rajbhavan to meet Governor.
The Grand Old Party unleashed more troubleshooters as Congress Legislative Party leader Siddaramaiah himself went to Vidhana Soudha on Saturday late afternoon and sources said he had tried to speak to the rebels, but they had already left from there and their phones were reportedly switched off.
He clarified that Shivakumar had taken them to his Crescent Road official residence. He then returned home.
AICC general secretary K C Venugopal is expected to be here post 5 pm.
Karnataka Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao is expected to arrive in the city on Sunday evening for another round of troubleshooting.
The coalition's problem is that the biggest troubleshooter CM HD Kumaraswamy who saved them four months ago using call recording to expose Yeddyurappa is not present and will only reach here by late on Sunday night.
As he fights 'jet lag,' will H D Kumaraswamy find this round of trouble difficult to shoot is the question?