Bengaluru: Close on the heels of Congress Legislature Party leader, Siddaramaiah issuing a third round of notices to the four elusive MLAs on Wednesday, he issued a direct warning to these MLAs stating that he would initiate disciplinary action if they failed to attend the crucial Legislature party meeting on February 8.
The party whip which was issued by Mr Siddaramaiah on Tuesday evening too contained strong words and indirectly hinted at initiating action against the erring MLAs. This whip is valid for the whole joint legislature session and budget session which ends on February 15.
While addressing party leaders here on Wednesday, Mr Siddaramaiah without mincing words stated that the party will not spare any MLA who misses the Legislature Party meeting on February 8. "This is a warning for those who think that they can get away by writing letters. Notices have been issued and they are pretty clearly worded. Nobody should try to act smart. We will act tough this time and we will not hesitate to ask Speaker (K. R. Ramesh Kumar) to initiate action under the anti-defection law," he said and added that the party will formally lodge it complaint with the Speaker as soon as it gets to know who remains absent.
In the same breath, he accused the BJP leaders of offering a whopping Rs 30 crore in cash to each of the MLAs who wishes to remain absent during the session. "So far none of our MLAs have fallen for this crude display of corrupt tactics by BJP leaders," he said.
It may be recalled that last month, Mr Siddaramaiah had served notices to the four legislators who did not turn up at a Congress legislature party meeting in Bengaluru. The notice was served on Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mahesh Kamatihalli, B. Nagendra and Umesh Jadhav.
The four Congress MLAs had also abstained from the CLP meeting, which decided to move all legislators to a resort. The meeting was convened by the party to assess whether its flock was intact amid speculation that some of the party MLAs had switched over to the BJP.
