Karnataka Congress issues show-cause notice to Roshan Baig over outbursts
Bengaluru, May 21: 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.
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Trump says he called off dispatching envoys to Iran talks
Dubai (PTI): US President Donald Trump said he told his top envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner not to travel to Pakistan to negotiate with Iran, stating on Fox News that "they can call us any time they want”.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country won't negotiate while the United States imposes a blockade on its ports. Pezeshkian told Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during a phone call Saturday night that the US “should first remove operational obstacles, including the blockade,” to allow a new round of negotiations, according to the ISNA and Tasnim news agencies in Iran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi left Pakistan on Saturday evening, two Pakistani officials told The Associated Press. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency said Araghchi is expected back in Pakistan's capital Islamabad on Sunday.
Trump said Thursday that Israel and Lebanon agreed to extend a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah by three weeks after talks at the White House. The meeting was the second high-level negotiation between the two countries this month. The initial 10-day ceasefire had been due to expire Monday.
The Trump administration is placing economic sanctions on a major China-based oil refinery and roughly 40 shipping companies and tankers involved in transporting Iranian oil.
The move announced Friday is part of the administration's threat to impose secondary sanctions on entities doing business with Iran in an effort to cut off Iran's oil exports, which are a key source of its revenue.
Airlines worldwide have begun cancelling flights as the war in the Middle East strains jet fuel supplies and pushes up prices. Experts have offered information to travelers about what to do if a flight is cancelled.
Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country won't negotiate while the United States imposes a blockade on its ports, according to Iranian media.
Pezeshkian told Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during a phone call Saturday night that the US “should first remove operational obstacles, including the blockade”, to allow a new round of negotiations, the ISNA and Tasnim news agencies reported.
The Pakistani premier described the call as a “warm and constructive discussion”.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi concluded a one-day trip to Pakistan's capital Islamabad on Saturday after meeting with Pakistani military and government officials.
The trip did not produce a breakthrough in efforts to relaunch negotiations after US President Donald Trump canceled a planned trip by his envoys to Islamabad.
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will return to Pakistan after his current visit to Oman on his way to visiting Russia.
The report said he was expected to be back in Pakistan's capital Islamabad on Sunday and would join other members of his delegation who had gone to Tehran for consultations and “instructions on the topics related to the end of the war.”
