BENGALURU: Tourism Minister Anand Singh met KPCC president DK Shivakumar at the latter’s residence here on Monday, triggering speculation over realignment of political forces ahead of the Assembly elections in the state in 2023.
Conspicuously, Anand Singh came in his private car, and not his official vehicle, for the closed-door meeting. Coming out of the meeting, he avoided talking to the media, adding to the mystery. But Shivakumar, while speaking to reporters, maintained that he had called the minister to discuss about tapping the tourism potential in his Kanakapura Assembly constituency, especially at Mekedatu.
“At the Vijayanagara Assembly constituency, Anand Singh has conducted ‘Tunga aarti’ and I also wanted to conduct ‘Arkavathi-Cauvery aarti’ at Mekedatu. Our meeting was to work out a plan for the event. Singh promised to send a team for assessment,” Shivakumar said.
Asked as to why Singh came in his personal car, Shivakumar stressed that no politics was discussed. “If it was a political meeting, we would have met at a guesthouse or a hotel. It is commonsense. Singh came here boldly and openly as I had called him for the meeting,” the KPCC chief reasoned.
Asked about the development, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai shot back, saying the question should be posed to Anand Singh. BJP sources said that party leaders have found it hard to stomach the high-profile meeting.
Singh played role in ending Cong-JDS coalition govt
“IF the Leader of the Opposition had called the minister, it would have been acceptable. But Anand Singh has gone and met the head of a political party,” a Bharatiya Janata Party leader remarked. Anand Singh has earlier played a role in bringing down the Congress-Janata Dal-Secular coalition government and supporting the BJP dispensation.
He was elected from Congress in the 2018 Assembly polls, but in 2019, he resigned from his position along with 17 other Congress and JDS MLAs. He later won the bypoll and became the forest minister in the BS Yediyurappa- led government. When Basavaraj Bommai took over as chief minister, Singh was allocated the tourism, ecology and environment portfolio, but he was not happy.
It is also said that he was discontented with Bommai over making him the Koppal district in-charge minister, instead of his home district Vijayanagar. His supporters had staged a protest against it. The 55-yea-old leader has several criminal cases against him. A CBI trial too is on over encroachment of land and illegal mining.