BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah may put the ball in the court of Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, on the thorny issue of honey trap attempt made on his confidante and Cooperation Minister KN Rajanna.
Meanwhile, Rajanna’s son Rajendra, an MLC, called on Siddaramaiah at his official residence Cauvery on Saturday and held talks. He claimed that he presented certain digital evidence on the alleged attempts made against his father and him to honeytrap them. He told the CM that an influential minister, who he named, was behind the honeytrap episode, sources said.
“Does he not have wife and children? Why is he trying to honeytrap us,” Rajendra said earlier in the day at a public meeting at the Madhugiri Assembly constituency, talking about the influential minister. Rajendra said he and his father will go by what the chief minister says on filing a complaint. Sources said Rajendra recently had a tiff with an aide of the minister over a sensitive issue.
Rajanna and PWD Minister Satish Jarkiholi, both aides of Siddaramaiah, are planning to meet Rahul in New Delhi soon. Rahul’s man Friday and AICC General Secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal, a Siddaramaiah sympathiser, will facilitate the meeting, sources said. The two will give details of the conspiracy by the senior minister to honey trap own party leaders to snub them politically. But in turn, the two ministers will try to stop the leader from claiming the top post in the state, a Congress leader said.
The high command, through its own channels, has already collected information on honeytrapping and how BJP capitalised on it, and who within Congress are responsible for the scandal. The party top brass will weigh in its options before taking further action, he added.
Rajanna told reporters in Tumakuru that he will submit a written complaint to both Siddaramaiah and Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara either on Wednesday or Thursday. He also said like-minded ministers will discuss their next move on the sidelines of the cabinet meeting on Thursday.
Will take plaint to him: Rajanna
KOLAR: Cooperation Minister K N Rajanna said he will approach Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara with a formal complaint on the honey-trap attempt on him.
“Such cases are happening neither for the first time not it will be the last. Such cases will be reported in future too,” he told reporters here on Saturday.
Rajanna said handing over the honey-trap case for CBI investigation is left to the chief minister and the home minister. Speaking on suspension of 18 BJP MLAs, he said the protest in the Assembly was pre-planned. The behaviour of the BJP legislators will be a black mark on the Karnataka legislature, he said. The minister said if he was the Speaker, he too would have suspended them.
