Bengaluru, Dec 16 (DHNS): The Congress is likely to suspend former minister H Y Meti from the party following the sex video scandal.

Sources in the party said the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) has already sent a report to the party high command on the entire episode. The Bagalkot District Congress Committee has recommended to the KPCC to take action against Meti. State party president G Parameshwara is waiting for the high command’s permission to initiate action against Meti, who resigned as minister on Wednesday after the video was released to the media.

However, Meti is likely to continue as a Congress legislature party member. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to visit Belagavi on December 17 to address a rally. The party may suspend Meti before Rahul’s visit, the sources said.

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Tumakuru, KPCC president G Parameshwara said that the party would expel Meti from the party, if the high command instructs them to do so. “I have discussed the matter with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The high command has to decide on the action since Meti is an MLA. The incident has brought disrepute to the party,” Parameshwara said.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday abruptly cancelled his official visit to Mysuru where he was scheduled to inaugurate the 76th annual conference of the Association of Surgeons of India. But the Chief Minister’s Office did not give any specific reason for the sudden cancellation.

Sources in the government said the chief minister had confined himself to his home office. Speculation was rife in the state secretariat that the government is jittery after a series of raids by the Income Tax department in the last few days.

Huge amounts of unaccounted cash were seized from senior officials and influential people during these raids.

‘Probe in Meti case if victim files plaint’

Nagalakshmi Bai, chairperson the State Women’s Commission, said on Thursday that the Commission would launch a probe into the sexual escapades of former minister H Y Meti, if the victim or someone on her behalf files a complaint, reports DHNS from Chitradurga.

She was addressing reporters in the city. When asked why the commission did not register a complaint on its own, Bai said that the commission was trying to contact the woman since Wednesday. The panel would take action after speaking to her.

Bai said, in her capacity as the commission chairperson, she was not for or against anyone. Harrassment of women was wrong, whichever party the perpetrator belonged to. The chairperson said she would hold meetings at the district level to take stock of cases of atrocities against women.