MANGALURU: Amid the ongoing tussle over chief minister’s post in Karnataka, AICC General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah shared the stage in Mangaluru on Wednesday during the centenary celebrations of the historic meeting between Mahatma Gandhi and Shree Narayana Guru.
Though the two leaders sat beside each other through the two-hour event at Mangalore University, they barely interacted. Sources said they later held a closed-door meeting at the university’s Kaveri Guesthouse. The details of their discussion remain unknown.
Emerging after over an hour, Siddaramaiah told reporters that he did not discuss politics with Venugopal. To questions on Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar’s visit to Delhi, he said, “Let him go. Who will object to it?” Asked whether he too is planning to travel to Delhi, he replied that he will go if invited and that he had received no such communication so far.
It remained unclear how long Venugopal stayed at the guesthouse, as he was not seen exiting before the chief minister left. He later reportedly departed for Kerala by train.
The event, organised by Mangalore University and Congress MLC BK Hariprasad, was attended by Home Minister G Parameshwara, PWD Minister Satish Jarkiholi, Housing Minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan, Women and Child Welfare Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar and Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, among others. Deputy Chief Minister Shivakumar was not on the list of invitees.
Earlier in the day, when Siddaramaiah arrived at Mangaluru Airport, supporters of both him and Shivakumar raised slogans backing their respective leaders. Congress leader Mithun Rai told reporters that Shivakumar played a key role in bringing the party to power in the state and should become CM immediately.
Reacting to the slogan-shouting, PWD Minister Satish Jarkiholi said, “There is no use raising such slogans. There is no confusion among us. Everything is clear, and both leaders have already spoken to each other.”