Sonia, Rahul Gandhi protest in Parliament on Goa, Karnataka

New Delhi: Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Anand Sharma on Thursday staged a protest in Parliament against the government over the political crisis in Goa and Karnataka where many of its MLAs have resigned.

The protest took place in front of Mahatma Gandhi's statue in the Parliament premises. They raised slogans and displayed placards that read "Save Democracy".

As many as 17 MLAs of the JD-S and Congress have quit the House in Karnataka, withdrawing support to the coalition government. In Goa, 10 of the 15 MLAs have defected to the BJP, reducing the Congress strength to just five members.

The Congress has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of engineering the defections.