The Congress legislator from Channagiri Shivaganga V. Basavaraj has been served with a show cause notice to respond to his action of speaking about the Chief Minister’s post despite the Congress high command asking partymen not to speculate over it.

The notice comes in the light of his repeated utterances in public over Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar taking over the reins from the incumbent Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

Mr. Basavaraj is a known aide of Mr. Shivakumar and is seen making statements on leadership change often. The action against him comes close on the heels of sacking of Cooperation Minister K.N. Rajanna, a close aide of Mr. Siddaramaiah, from the cabinet recently allegedly for his statements on leadership, party matters and his recent statements on ‘vote chori’, indicating the party to be responsible for it and embarassing Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who has taken up ‘vote chori’ campaign, especially in Bihar over SIR.

The disciplinary committee of the KPCC, headed by former Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha K. Rahman Khan, issued the notice on Sunday (August 17, 2025) and has asked him to reply within seven days. “Your repeated statements in public, as reported by the media, have not only caused embarrassment to the party but have also created confusion. These public statements amount to indiscipline. The KPCC disciplinary committee has taken a serious note of the indiscipline to issue a show cause notice seeking your explanation within seven days of this notice reaching you,” the notice signed by Niveditha Alva said.

Recently, Ramanagar Congress legislator Iqbal Hussain, a known follower of Mr. Shivakumar and who had repeatedly spoken about leadership change in the state has been warned by the party.

The public postures by legislators and senior leaders of the party aligned with Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. Shivakumar have been firing salvoes at each other on behalf of their leaders over the leadership change.

Their public statements have been coming over a purported agreement over leadership rotation, which has been denied by Mr.. Siddaramaiah, who in recent weeks has publicly reiterated that he would complete the full term in a bid to end the speculation.