Senior Congress leader and former minister R Roshan Baig, who recently attacked senior Congress leaders over the poor Lok Sabha poll results, was suspended on Tuesday by the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee for anti-party activities.
Senior Congress leader and former minister R Roshan Baig, who recently attacked senior Congress leaders over the poor Lok Sabha poll results, was suspended on Tuesday by the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee for anti-party activities.
Baig has been in the news over the past few weeks – first for an outburst against AICC leader and observer for Karnataka K C Venugopal, state Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao and Congress legislature party leader Siddaramaiah, and more recently for alleged links to a ponzi scheme in his constituency.
The former minister, who has been miffed over being ignored for a state Cabinet berth and a Lok Sabha ticket from the Bengaluru Central constituency, is widely believed to have been on the verge of joining the BJP this month when he was linked to the IMA Group ponzi scheme which has defrauded hundreds of investors – mostly Muslims – in Bengaluru.
The Congress party, however, initiated disciplinary action against Baig after issuing him a showcause notice last month over his outburst against party leaders in the wake of exit poll results on May 21, which showed the Congress doing very poorly in the polls.
Baig had called Venugopal a “buffoon”, Siddaramaiah “arrogant” and Gundu Rao a “flop show” and blamed them for the poor showing of the party in Karnataka in the Lok Sabha polls.
“By making statements in the media that cause embarrassment to the party and by expressing your displeasure in public you have gone against the principles of the party. Your actions have damaged the respectability of the party,” the showcause notice had said.
On Tuesday, the Congress issued a statement that Baig was being suspended for anti-party activities following an inquiry. “He has been suspended from the party with immediate effect on the basis of an inquiry conducted on the matter,” an official Congress statement said.
Since being issued the showcause notice last month, Baig was linked to a possible move to the BJP after he held meetings with senior BJP leader and Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in Delhi.
Baig’s move to the BJP would have reduced the strength of the Congress-JDS coalition and would have improved the chances of the BJP staking a claim to form a new government in Karnataka.
Baig has been in the news over the past few weeks – first for an outburst against AICC leader and observer for Karnataka K C Venugopal, state Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao and Congress legislature party leader Siddaramaiah, and more recently for alleged links to a ponzi scheme in his constituency.
The former minister, who has been miffed over being ignored for a state Cabinet berth and a Lok Sabha ticket from the Bengaluru Central constituency, is widely believed to have been on the verge of joining the BJP this month when he was linked to the IMA Group ponzi scheme which has defrauded hundreds of investors – mostly Muslims – in Bengaluru.
The Congress party, however, initiated disciplinary action against Baig after issuing him a showcause notice last month over his outburst against party leaders in the wake of exit poll results on May 21, which showed the Congress doing very poorly in the polls.
Baig had called Venugopal a “buffoon”, Siddaramaiah “arrogant” and Gundu Rao a “flop show” and blamed them for the poor showing of the party in Karnataka in the Lok Sabha polls.
“By making statements in the media that cause embarrassment to the party and by expressing your displeasure in public you have gone against the principles of the party. Your actions have damaged the respectability of the party,” the showcause notice had said.
On Tuesday, the Congress issued a statement that Baig was being suspended for anti-party activities following an inquiry. “He has been suspended from the party with immediate effect on the basis of an inquiry conducted on the matter,” an official Congress statement said.
Since being issued the showcause notice last month, Baig was linked to a possible move to the BJP after he held meetings with senior BJP leader and Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in Delhi.
Baig’s move to the BJP would have reduced the strength of the Congress-JDS coalition and would have improved the chances of the BJP staking a claim to form a new government in Karnataka.