In a no-holds barred attack, senior Karnataka Congress leader Roshan Baig Tuesday accused the state party chief of being a "flop show" and scoffed at AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal as a "buffon", prompting the party to issue a show cause notice for his outburst.
Baig, a senior MLA, also slammed former chief minister Siddaramaiah for "dividing" the Hindu society by attempting to give separate religion tag to Lingayat community and "abusing" the Vokkaliga community during his tenure in the top post.
The attack by Baig who was miffed over being denied ticket to contest Lok Sabha polls came after the exit polls predicted a rout for the Congress-JD(S) alliance in Karnataka and NDA's return to power at the Centre.
Baig also appealed to the Muslims to "compromise with the situation" (about BJP-led NDA being in power) and not to remain like "cattle" and be reduced to a vote bank.
"Venugopal (in-charge of party affairs in the state) should have resigned when Congress got 79 seats in assembly polls (a year ago). I feel sorry for such general secretary coming to our state...," he said
He added,"Buffoons like Venugopal and arrogant attitude of Siddaramaiah and the flop show president Dinesh Gundu Rao...the result is this (Lok Sabha exit polls forecast)."
Seeking Baig's explanation in a week, the notice signed by KPCC General Secretary V Y Ghorpade said, "On failing to reply, further disciplinary action will be taken against you (Baig)."
Appealing to Muslims to "compromise with the situation", he said, "we should not be sacrificed. We should not remain like cattle. We should not become vote bank of one side."
Meanwhile, Baig's son Ruman Baig in a tweet said: "Congress has created a fear psychosis amongst minorities. They've created a narrative that minorities should feel guilty if they decide to vote for BJP. But in reality, Congress leadership just uses the minority votebank as a safety cushion."