Show-cause notices will be issued to MLAs abstaining from CLP meeting in Karnataka, says Kharge

Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said that the party would issue a show-cause notice to two MLAs who did not attend the CLP meeting held in Bengaluru on Friday, asking for an explanation from them.

Responding on four MLAs who did not attend the CLP meeting, Kharge told ANI: "First, we will issue a show-cause notice asking for an explanation. Then we will take some action after discussion with the party members. Out of four, two MLAs have responded while two have not contacted us so far. We will issue notices to the two who did not respond."

Four Karnataka Congress MLAs on Friday abstained from the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting, which decided to move rest of the 76 legislators to a resort. The meeting was convened by the party to assess whether its flock was intact amid speculation that some of the party MLAs had switched over to the BJP.

The Congress, which shares power with JD-S, has 80 MLAs in the 224-member Assembly, including the Speaker. Accordingly, 79 MLAs were expected to attend the CLP meeting held under the supervision of central leaders K C Venugopal and Mallikarjun Kharge.

Earlier on Wednesday, Kharge alleged the BJP was scaring his party MLAs in Karnataka by taking the name of institutions like CBI, CVC, Income Tax, and ED in a bid to gain their support. He said the BJP is spreading rumours through media that they have 15-20 MLAs in their favour.

"This is not the first time that the BJP is doing this. They have done it in Goa, Manipur, Uttarakhand, and Arunachal Pradesh. Now they are trying to replicate this in Karnataka, but they will fail," Kharge said.

The political situation in Karnataka got more tumultuous after two independent MLAs-H Nagesh and R Shankar-pulled out of the JDS-Congress government in the state. Nagesh and Shankar wrote separate letters to Governor Vajubhai Vala, conveying their decision to withdraw their support to the coalition government.