Surjewala’s presence at govt meeting raises a storm in Karnataka; CM clarifies

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday clarified that Congress leader and state in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala did not “officiate” any meeting of government and city civic body officials as charged by the BJP and JD(S).

Siddaramaiah’s reaction came as the BJP sought to complain to Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot against Surjewala allegedly officiating a meeting with the senior bureaucrats of the state and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) civic body.

“Surjewala did not officiate any meeting. He has only spoken to some MLAs. The Deputy Chief Minister (DK Shivakumar) was present there. It was a meeting which the DCM had attended,” Siddaramaiah told reporters.

“You must understand that it is not an official meeting. The Bengaluru city MLAs were summoned for the Bengaluru civic body election where he (Surjewala) had also gone,” the Chief Minister clarified.

The meeting was regarding issues prevailing in Bengaluru city. There were discussions about the civic body elections. The DCM was going to inspect the Hebbal flyover in the city and Surjewala was also asked to attend it.

BJP fumes

The BJP on Tuesday questioned the presence of Surjewala at the meeting chaired by Shivakumar with officials of the state government and BBMP at a private hotel.

It shared a photograph of the meeting on its Twitter handle in which Surjewala was seen seated next to Shivakumar where Karnataka Additional Chief Secretary Rakesh Singh and other government officers were present.

“What has Congress state in-charge Surjewala to do with the senior BBMP officials?” the BJP tweeted.

Former chief minister and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy wanted to know if there was a Siddaramaiah government or a “10 Janpath” regime in the state.

(With agency inputs)