BENGALURU: Former Speaker K B Koliwad said on Thursday that he replied to a show-cause notice slapped by the state Congress unit’s disciplinary action committee for his outbursts against leaders, in particular former chief minister Siddaramaiah, but declined to divulge details of his reply. Mr Koliwad confirmed that he received the show-cause notice but said, “It’s between me and my party...I do not want to share details with you.”
The former Speaker recently slammed Congress leaders for ‘tormenting’ Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy soon after the latter’s emotional outburst. He also sought the removal of Mr Siddaramaiah from the party if it wanted to win maximum seats in next year’s Lok Sabha elections. Going a step further, he had urged the central leadership to replace Mr Siddaramaiah by Mr Mallikarjun Kharge or opposition leader in Rajya Sabha Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad since he was selfish and promoting his followers.
Taking umbrage to the tirade against state unit leaders, Mr V V Ghorpade had served notice on him seeking an explanation within a week failing which the party had threatened to initiate disciplinary action. Mr Koliwad, however, blamed the media for distorting his statements.
On the furniture scam, Mr Koliwad said he had followed due procedure in purchasing second hand sofa set. Some vested interests had spread the canard that he carted away the furniture without paying any amount. “I have purchased (furniture) at the rate fixed by the Assembly secretariat after depreciation. I am not a person to violate rules. I have not committed any mistake. The legislative Assembly Secretary Mr N Murray has given a clarification in this regard,” he added.
