Not bothered to read show-cause notice issued by Cong, says Roshan Baig

Bengaluru, May 21: Hours after Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) sent a show cause notice to Congress MLA Roshan Baig for speaking against Congress-JDS alliance leaders, Baig said he does not bother to read the notice as it was issued at "the orders of the people whose incompetencies were highlighted by me."

"I've received the show cause notice sent to me by the KPCC. I'm not even going to bother to read it because it's clearly sent at the orders of the same people whose incompetencies were highlighted by me," Baig wrote on his Twitter handle.

Earlier in the day, KPCC general secretary Venkatrao Y Ghorpade sent a show cause notice to Baig over his remarks against AICC general secretary KC Venugopal, KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah.

He has been asked to reply within one week.

Baig, who is at loggerheads with the party leaders for not getting the ticket to contest the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls, slammed Gundurao and Siddaramaiah, saying that "these two leaders should be held responsible if the Congress doesn't perform well in the General Elections."

He also called his party leader KC Venugopal a "buffoon" and blamed Siddaramaiah for the "collapse" of the alliance in the state.

The Congress leader reiterated that he is upset with the fact that no seats were given to Christians and only one seat to Muslims in Karnataka.

"No seats were given to Christians and only one seat was given to Muslims in Karnataka. They were ignored. I am upset about this. We have been used," he told ANI.

"The arrogance of these state leaders is immeasurable. These people accuse the opposition of horse-trading without mentioning how they sold ministerial portfolios at exorbitant prices. The incumbent government is being man-handled by the state Cong leaders as well," he said.

"I brought out several instances of murky ongoings with a few leaders of the high command of the party, but those leaders turned a blind eye to these ongoings. Be assured several grievances were raised by me internally before going public," Baig said.

The miffed Congress MLA further stated that there are several senior leaders who are capable of running the party but were sidelined.

"Leadership defines a party and I've hit out at the leaders. Unfortunately, attacks on the leadership turn into an attack on the party. There are several senior leaders who were capable of running the party but were sidelined," he said.

Responding to Baig's statement, Gundurao said: "It is unbecoming of a politician of his stature to be speaking like this. It ranks of pure political opportunism. We will take the required action when the time is right."

Meanwhile, Congress leader Rizwan Arshad called Baig an "opportunist" and asked him to resign from the party.

"He is an opportunist. If he has guts, let him resign and contest on the BJP ticket. If the Congress is such a bad party which gave him power for the last 10 years and made him MLA for the last four terms, then let him resign and contest on the BJP ticket. Let us see what happens in Shivajinagara," he said.