"Baig has been suspended with immediate effect for his anti-party activities," said state Congress General Secretary V.Y. Ghorpade in a statement here.
The All India Congress Committee (AICC) has approved Baig's suspension on the recommendation of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) to take action against him on the basis of an enquiry into his activities.
Baig, a former Congress minister, is an eight-time legislator from the Shivajinagar Assembly segment in the city centre.
Baig has been in the news of late for wrong reasons, including his alleged involvement in the multi-crore Ponzi scheme, operated by IMA Jewels owner Mohammed Mansoor Khan, who fled the country on June 8.
In a purported video clip posted in the social media, Khan accused Baig of blackmailing him for asking to return about Rs 400 crore he claimed to have given the latter for contesting in the recent Lok Sabha elections from Bangalore Central seat though he did not get the ticket.
Upset by Baig's open criticism of the party's state leadership, KPCC on May 21 served notice to him, seeking explanation for his attack on AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal and Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah for the rout the party faced in the parliamentary elections.
Venugopal is also in-charge of the party's state unit affairs.
Commenting on the May 19 exit polls on May 20, that projected Congress performing poorly in the general elections, Baig lashed out at Venugopal, Siddaramaiah and party's state unit president Dinesh Gundu Rao.
"Venugopal is a buffoon. What he knows about the party in our state as he is from Kerala? Due to Siddaramaiah's arrogance, the party lost in the May 2018 Assembly elections and Rao's immaturity is responsible for the dismal state of affairs currently," Baig told reporters at his residence here.
Baig has been sulking against the party leadership since a year for being denied a cabinet post despite being the Muslim face of the party after the death of veteran party leader Jaffer Shariff in November last year.
"All of us (Congress Ministers) may resign to accommodate our rebel legislators in the cabinet. If my party asks me to resign, I will. The party will take a decision," Parameshwara told reporters here.
In the 34-member cabinet, 22 are Congress Ministers, including Parameshwara, while 10 belong to the coalition ally Janata Dal-Secular, including Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and one from the regional outfit KPJP and an Independent.
About 10 Congress rebel legislators have resigned along with three rebel JD-S lawmakers on Saturday, expressing lack of confidence in the government.
Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar is, however, yet to decide on the resignations as the rebels handover their letters to Kumar's secretary in his office.
Meanwhile, Congress ministers and party's state leaders are holding parleys at Parameshwara's residence in the city on devising strategies to pacify the rebels to withdraw their resignations.
"Whatever we have to do in the interest of the party and the coalition government, we will do, said Parameshwara before the breakfast meeting.
A day after Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy made a surprise announcement in the Assembly that he would seek a trust vote, efforts were intensified to reach out to the dissident legislators.
Congress's troubleshooter and Water Resources Minister D K Shivakumar reached the residence of Housing Minister M T B Nagaraj at about 5 AM and camped there for almost four-and-a-half hours, trying to pacify him.
According to reports, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara too reached Nagaraj's house to convince him to withdraw the resignation.
Nagaraj had resigned from the MLA post on Wednesday.
A similar attempt was on to persuade MLAs Ramalinga Reddy, Munirathna and R Roshan Baig.
Sources in JD(S) said Kumaraswamy is in direct talks with at least four Congress legislators, who have resigned, and was hopeful that they would withdraw their resignation.
In a bid to keep the flock together ahead of the floor test that is likely during the coming week, both the Congress and BJP shifted their MLAs to hotel and resorts.
Commenting on the developments, BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa said these efforts would not yield any result as the fall of the government was "imminent".
"There's confusion in Congress and JD(S) due to which the MLAs are fleeing the party. A systematic conspiracy is going on to bring the MLAs back," Yeddyurappa told reporters here.
"The atmosphere is chaotic and the fall of the government is imminent," the state BJP chief said.
Claiming that the state government has lost majority, he said seeking the vote of confidence was "meaningless".
Kumaraswamy made the announcement about trust vote on the floor of the Assembly, after the Supreme Court Friday ordered the Speaker to maintain status quo on the resignations of 10 rebel MLAs belonging to the Congress-JDS coalition till July 16.
The coalition government, which has been shaky since it came into being last year after a post-poll arrangement in the wake of a hung verdict, is facing a serious crisis now with 16 MLAs -- 13 of the Congress and three of the JD(S) -- resigning from the Assembly.
Besides, two Independent legislators, who were made ministers recently to provide stability to the government, have quit the ministry and withdrawn their support to it.
The ruling coalition's total strength is 116 (Congress-78, JD(S)-37 and BSP-1), besides the Speaker.
With the support of the two Independents, the BJP has 107 MLAs in the 224-member House.
If the resignations of the 16 MLAs are accepted, the coalition's tally will be reduced to 100.
The Speaker too has a vote.
"The five rebel legislators, who also resigned from their Assembly seats, are likely to petition the apex court on Monday for its direction to the Speaker to accept their resignations also at the earliest," a source in the know of their decision told IANS.
The five rebels are Anand Singh, Munirathna, Roshan Baig, M.T.B. Nagaraj and K. Sudhakar.
Singh resigned on July 1, Munirthna on July 6, Baig on July 9 and Nagaraj and Sudhakar on July 10.
Nagaraj is also the Housing Minister in the 13-month-old Congress-Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) coalition government. He was made a minister on December 22 when the Cabinet was reshuffled and expanded.
"I have prepared affidavits for Baig and Nagaraj to file their petitions in the apex court on Monday," city advocate-cum-notary H.H. Nagaraj told IANS.
The affidavits and petitions of the remaining three legislators were prepared by other lawyers in the city, said the source.
Ten rebel legislators, including seven from the Congress and three from the JD-S, had petitioned the top court on July 10 for its intervention in expediting the acceptance of their resignations by the Speaker.
Though a three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, directed the Speaker to allow the 10 rebels to resubmit their resignations and decide on them on July 11, it ordered the latter on July 12 to maintain status quo till July 16 when the case will be taken up for further hearing.
The Speaker sought more time from the apex court in deciding on the resignations as the ruling allies have petitioned him to disqualify them for defying their whip and alleged anti-party activities.
In a related development, Independents R. Shankar and H. Nagesh, who resigned as ministers on July 8 and withdrew their support to the coalition government, wrote to the Speaker to arrange their seats in the Opposition benches in the Assembly when they attend its Monsoon Session from Monday.
In a letter to the Senior Inspector (Head) of Powai Police Station, the 14 -- who described themselves as "Respected Members of Karnataka Assembly" -- have also said that they had no intention of meeting Congress' leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge or Ghulam Nabi Azad or any other Congressman from either Maharashtra or Karnataka.
They urged the police to prevent these leaders from approaching them as they "anticipate" serious threats from them at the Hotel Renaissance, where they are staying.
They have sent copies of their plea to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone 10 and the security and management of the hotel.
However, the latest letter bears no date or acknowledgement stamp from the concerned police station. Although it mentions the names of all legislators present, but at least four have not signed it.
The signatories on the letter include: Shivram Hebbar, B.C. Patil, Muniratnam, R. Shankar, H. Nagesh, Pratap Patil, Gopalaiah, Ramesh J., Somshekar and Basavaraja.
The four MLAs whose signatures are missing against their names are: Mahesh K., Vishwanath, Narayan Gowda and M.T.B. Nagraj.
On July 9, a group of around a dozen rebel lawmakers had written a similar letter to the Mumbai Police refusing to meet Karnataka Minister and senior Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar and others, who arrived here to resolve the ongoing political crises in that state last Wednesday.
After a day of high drama Shivakumar, his ministerial colleague, two legislators and Maharashtra Congress' Naseem Khan, Milind Deora and others were detained for several hours.
The matter also reverberated in a big way in Parliament with heated exchanges between the Opposition and the government on that day.
Later that night, Shivakumar and the Karnataka leaders were 'deported' to Bengaluru and the police have since clamped prohibitory orders in the hotel's vicinity in suburban Powai.
"As the debate on the confidence motion moved by the Chief Minister on Thursday did not conclude in the Assembly, Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar could not conduct the floor test by the 6 p.m. deadline set by the Governor for the second time," an official told IANS.
The Governor directed the Chief Minister to prove the majority by 6 p.m. after the 1:30 p.m. deadline he set on Thursday night lapsed, as the discussions on the motion did not conclude by then even as the Speaker adjourned the House till 3 p.m.
In response to the demand of the ruling Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) lawmakers to allow them to participate in the discussions, the Speaker said that he would extend the session's time for a couple of hours, but pleaded with them to end the debate by Friday and conclude the floor test.
The opposition BJP insisted on conducting the floor test by Friday night itself.
Kumaraswamy and Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Krishna Byre Gowda appealed to the Speaker to extend the debate to Monday, assuring him to complete the floor test.
Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah also sought time till Monday.
"The Chief Minister failed to prove majority in the Assembly by 1:30 p.m., the deadline set by the Governor on Thursday," opposition BJP leader B.S. Yeddyurappa told the Speaker after the first deadline lapsed.
When the former three-time BJP Chief Minister urged the Speaker to conduct the floor test forthwith, Kumar said that he would do it after the discussions on the confidence motion were completed by the treasury and the opposition members.
"Voice vote on the confidence motion only after discussions on it by the treasury and opposition members. Division of votes will be looked into if anyone demands for it after the voice vote," said Kumar.
In a letter issued on Thursday night, Vala had directed the Chief Minister to prove majority by 1:30 p.m. on Friday, a time set in response to BJP's complaint to him on the dilatory tactics of the ruling allies on the confidence motion Kumaraswamy moved on Thursday.
"I require you to prove your majority on or before 1:30 p.m. tomorrow (Friday)," said Vala in the letter after his Thursday's order to complete the floor test by the end of the day also lapsed.
Resuming the inconclusive debate on the motion, stalled six times due to ruckus between the lawmakers of the ruling allies and the BJP, Kumaraswamy said that it was for the Speaker to decide on the Governor's order as to when he should prove the majority on the floor of the House.
"It is not for me to decide by when I should prove the majority. It is the Speaker who is the custodian of the House and has the supreme authority to decide how the session should be conducted," said Kumaraswamy.
Intervening in the debate, Byre Gowda said the Governor cannot give such an order on the motion which was being debated by the ruling parties and the opposition members.
"We fail to understand how the Governor could direct the Chief Minister to prove majority in a limited timeframe without completing the debate by both sides and hearing the reply on it by the Chief Minister as mentioned in the rule book," said Gowda.
A restive BJP told the Speaker not to allow the ruling combine to further delay the floor test as there was no stay on it from the Supreme Court on the trial of strength.
Rejecting the BJP's demand, ruling lawmakers asked the Governor to go back and accused him of being a BJP agent who was converting the Raj Bhavan into a BJP office.
About 20 legislators, including 14 from the Congress, 3 from the JD-S and 3 Independents, were absent in the 225-member Karnataka Assembly when the session began on Friday.