A special court here on Friday issued summons to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress President D.K. Shivakumar in connection with a defamation case filed by the BJP.

Special Court, MP/MLA cases, judge J. Preeth asked them to appear before the court on March 28.

The order came as the court took up a petition by BJP state Secretary S. Shivaprasad, alleging that the accused had released full page advertisements in media as they ran a campaign against over 40 per cent commission charges against then BJP government headed by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.

The court also gave direction to lodge a criminal case against the accused and also make the state Congress unit a party to it under Sections 499 and 500 of the IPC.

The Congress had made a 40 per cent commission allegation against the then ruling BJP a major campaign agenda. Initially the allegations were made in speeches and soon the party took up social media campaigns and started putting up posters across the state.