Cong issues show-cause notice to MLA over outbursts

The Congress issued a show-cause notice to senior leader and Karnataka legislator R Roshan Baig on Tuesday for his outbursts against the party leadership.

The party has taken strong exception to Baig's comments against former chief minister Siddaramaiah, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal and party state president Dinesh Gundu Rao.

The remarks are being taken seriously as an "anti-party activity", the notice said, asking him to explain within a week why disciplinary action should not be taken against him.

"On failing to reply further disciplinary action will be taken against you," the notice, signed by state Congress general secretary V Y Ghorpade, said.

On Monday, Baig had hit out at the Congress leaders for the party's performance in the Lok Sabha polls as projected in the exit polls a day ago. The MLA had held Siddaramaiah's "arrogance" and Rao's "immaturity" responsible for the "flop show". He had also called Venugopal, who is in charge of the party affairs in the state, a "buffoon".

"By making statements to media and causing discomfort to the party and expressing your displeasure publicly through the media, you have conducted yourself by going against the party's principles. Your conduct has dented party's prestige," it added.

As the exit polls gave a clear-cut edge to the National Democratic Alliance in the Lok Sabha election, the senior Congress leader had dropped hints of quitting the party and appealed to the Muslims to "compromise" with the situation if the alliance returns to power.

Baig had earlier, too, expressed displeasure against the Congress leadership for not being included in the cabinet, headed by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy.

His outbursts has come at a time when another senior MLA, Ramesh Jarkiholi, who is hobnobbing with the Bharatiya Janata Party, had threatened to quit the Congress along with other MLAs "soon".

Even the BJP has predicted that the ruling JDS-Congress coalition would collapse after the Lok Sabha polls. It had claimed that 20-odd Congress MLAs were unhappy with the government and might take any decision after the results on Thursday.