Senior Congress leader and MLC B.K. Hariprasad has been issued a show-cause notice by the party for publicly criticising Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at a conference of backward classes communities in Bengaluru on Saturday.
Congress Disciplinary Action Committee has served the show-cause notice asking him to explain his conduct within 10 days.
Mr. Siddaramaiah had apparently brought to the central leaders’ notice Mr. Hariprasad’s repeated public criticism of him and sought action against the leader, who belongs to the Idiga community (OBC) and has been unhappy over not being inducted into the Cabinet.
What he had said
On Saturday, he took a dig at Mr. Siddaramaiah at a meeting of Idiga, Billava, Namadhari, and other OBC communities. “One cannot become a socialist by wearing a Hublot watch, dhoti, and khaki shorts inside,” Mr. Hariprasad had said, without directly naming Mr. Siddaramaiah.
Continuing his attack, Mr. Hariprasad had said the leader who had given many assurances during the election campaign did not give the post of the Deputy Chief Minister to a Dalit leader, questioning why G. Parameshwara (Home Minister and a Dalit) had been “demoted” to a ministerial post.
In July last too, Mr. Hariprasad had challenged Mr. Siddaramaiah, stating that he knew “how to make or bring the Chief Minister down”.