BENGALURU: In a swift political development, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar separately held talks with Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara, and discussed the strategy to handle cases against Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union Minister of Steel and Heavy Industries HD Kumaraswamy. Shivakumar held a breakfast meeting with Parameshwara at the latter’s residence and discussed the controversy involving Lokayukta Special Investigation Team (SIT) ADGP M Chandrashekar, who is investigating the Sandur mining case against Kumaraswamy.
The Union minister had allegedly granted a mining lease to the non-existent Sri Sai Venkateshwara Minerals, and the SIT had sought Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot’s sanction to prosecute him.
Shivakumar was reportedly taken aback that certain information was being leaked to Kumaraswamy by some officials, and held talks with Parameshwara in this regard, according to sources. Later, Parameshwara visited Siddaramaiah at the latter’s official residence Cauvery, and reportedly discussed the FIR filed against Nirmala Sitharaman in the electoral bond scam, which was subsequently stayed by the Karnataka High Court.
Both Shivakumar and Parameshwara categorically denied that they had discussed politics during their one-on-one meeting. “Can’t the media see anything other than politics? The people have elected us and pinned a lot of hopes on us, we need to live up to it.
We have fulfilled the five guarantees, we need to complete the Yettinahole project. All the promises made in the manifesto need to be fulfilled,” Shivakumar maintained. Parameshwara was the head of the Congress party manifesto committee for the 2023 assembly polls.
Asked why he was meeting Parameshwara in the absence of officials, he said, “All Congress MLAs are together, we don’t need officials coming after politicians.” He elaborated that Yettinahole water will reach Tumakuru district by 2025 as the water has already been pumped and stored.
“The forest land needed for the project has been identified in Tumakuru and Hassan districts, and needs to be transferred to the irrigation department. We will discuss this with the forest minister,” he said, adding that he and Parameshwara will go on an aerial inspection of the stretch from Sakleshpur to Tumakuru after Dasara.
“The monsoon is tapering off and drinking water is becoming an issue in Tumakuru, Bengaluru Rural, Ramanagara and Mandya districts. The BJP government had changed the location of the dam near Byragondlu in Koratagere taluk, and there are disputes with regard to compensation as it includes part of Doddaballapur taluk as well.”