Congress leader B K Hariprasad.
Credit: DH File Photo
The Congress on Tuesday issued a show cause notice to its senior leader B K Hariprasad on charges of criticising Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and sharing the dais with BJP and YSR Congress leaders at a backward classes conference in Bengaluru.
Congress Disciplinary Action Committee member Secretary Tariq Anwar said the panel decided to serve a show cause notice asking him to "explain his conduct" within ten days.
Anwar told DH that the notice has been issued to Hariprasad. "I have received information about the notice. I may get it officially tomorrow. I will reply to the notice in the stipulated time," Hariprasad said.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge received a complaint of violation of party discipline by Hariprasad, an MLC and who was recently inducted into the Congress Working Committee as a Permanent Invitee, and referred to the Disciplinary Action Committee.
An image of a press release by the Congress announcing the show cause notice to B K Hariprasad.
Credit: Special Arrangement
He is accused of criticising the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah publicly and sharing the dais with BJP and YSR Congress at a conference in Bengaluru on September 9.
Siddaramaiah had written to the central leadership complaining about "frequent" criticism by Hariprasad and sought action against the leader belonging to the backward class Ediga.
He took a dig at Siddaramaiah at the OBC meet on Saturday saying people wearing 'Hublot' watch along with a 'panche' (dhoti) cannot claim to be a 'Samajwadi' (socialist) and one cannot become Devraj Urs (former Karnataka Chief Minister known for social reforms) by sitting in the car used by him. The meeting was attended by BJP leader and former minister Kota Srinivas Pujari and YSR Congress Minister Jogi Ramesh as well as leaders from the Ediga community in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
At the meeting, Hariprasad did not take Siddaramaiah's name but the aim was clear. The Chief Minister was in the middle of a controversy in 2016 over a diamond-studded watch he had, which he said was a gift from Dubai-based cardiac surgeon Dr Girish Chandra Varma. Later Siddaramaiah handed over the watch, reportedly worth Rs 70 lakh, to the then Assembly Speaker, asking him to treat it as an asset of the State.
Hariprasad also referred to Siddaramaiah garlanding Urs' statue and taking a ride in the famed black Mercedes Benz of the former Chief Minister on his 108th birth anniversary last month.
The senior Congress leader also expressed his displeasure over a Dalit leader like Home Minister G Parameshwara not being considered for the Chief Minister's post and a tribal leader like Satish Jarkiholi for Deputy Chief Minister's post.
This was not the first time Hariprasad had attacked Siddaramaiah. His statements in July regarding ministerial and chief ministerial posts, along with his veiled dig at Siddaramaiah, had created a sense of unease within the Congress in Karnataka. He had also said that he knows how to make and remove a chief minister, a remark which went viral, and defended the same later.