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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No more street vending on B’luru’s main roads, as govt plans to bring new policy for street hawkers
Bengaluru: Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Friday said that the state government has decided to formulate a new policy for footpaths in Bengaluru, under which street vending will not be allowed on main roads and sub-main roads.
Addressing the media after a budget preparation meeting and executive meeting of GBA corporations at Vidhana Soudha, Shivakumar said discussions were held with MLAs from the GBA region regarding the corporations’ budgets and key civic issues.
Leader of Opposition R. Ashok also participated in the meeting and shared his views. Officials from multiple departments, including police, BESCOM, BMRCL, BWSSB and BDA, along with ministers and legislators, were present.
He stated that all five municipalities have prepared their individual budgets, while MLAs have submitted their demands, including calls for ward-wise grants.
“We have decided to bring a new policy for footpaths. Citizens are struggling to walk as footpaths are encroached upon by street vendors,” Shivakumar said.
Highlighting the need to balance livelihoods and public convenience, he added that “a separate space will be provided for street vendors, and specific roads will be designated for their business,” ensuring that pedestrians can use footpaths without obstruction. He noted that there was unanimous agreement among MLAs on this approach.
Issuing a warning to vendors, Shivakumar said that authorities will act against those violating the rules. “If vendors operate during the day and leave their carts on the roadside at night, authorities will clear them. People should be aware of this,” he said.
Providing data on street vendors, he said that around 60,000 vendors have registered so far, of which 30,000 have applied for vehicles, and a tender has already been floated.
“Only those with street vendor identity cards will be allowed to do business. Those without ID cards will not be permitted to operate on the streets,” he added.
