BS Yediyurappa rubbished HD Kumaraswamy's claim that he secretly met Congress's Siddaramaiah
Former Karnataka Chief Ministers Siddaramaiah and BS Yediyurappa today rubbished JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy's claim that both leaders have had a secret late night meeting.
Mr Kumaraswamy had yesterday claimed that the recent Income Tax raids on a person, who is allegedly said to be a close aide of Mr Yediyurappa, was an attempt by the BJP leadership to "control" him, following his alleged secret meeting with Mr Siddaramaiah.
Congress stalwart Siddaramaiah challenged Mr Kumaraswamy and said he will retire from politics, if it was proved that such a meeting took place. On the other hand, BJP veteran Yediyurappa termed it as "far from truth and meaningless".
"I had gone to meet Yediyurappa on his birthday. I had not met him personally as Chief Minister or as the Leader of Opposition. I have not met him (personally) till today. We both were in the same hospital when we were infected by Covid, even then we had not met," Mr Siddaramaiah said.
Speaking to reporters in Kalaburagi (Gulbarga), he claimed it is Mr Kumaraswamy who repeatedly met Mr Yediyurappa, when he was the Chief Minister.
"Let him (HD Kumaraswamy) prove that Yediyurappa and I have met, I will retire from politics.... While in opposition I will never meet those in the ruling party, nor go to their office or house, it is the principle I follow...it (HD Kumaraswamy's claims) is blatant lies," he added.
On the other hand, Mr Yediyurappa, who took to social media to reject claims about his meeting with Mr Siddaramaiah, without naming HD Kumaraswamy, said he has never compromised on the ideology he believes in and his only aim was to bring BJP back to power in Karnataka.
"Other than my birthday on February 27, 2020, I have not personally met Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah...I have no need to have such a meeting. We in the party are working to bring BJP back to power in the state," Mr Yediyurappa tweeted.
Further stating that he will not rest until achieving the goal of bringing BJP back to power again, he said, "I have never compromised on the ideology that I have believed in, and will never compromise in the future. As Siddaramaiah has clarified that no such meeting has taken place, I'm too clarifying that the reports in the media in this regard are far from truth and meaningless."
Speaking to reporters in Mysuru, Mr Kumaraswamy on Tuesday had claimed that the recent Income Tax raids specifically on a person who is allegedly said to be Mr Yediyurappa's Personal Assistant and Water Resources department related contractors, was an attempt by the BJP to "control" Mr Yediyurappa, following his alleged secret late night meeting with Mr Siddaramaiah.
"Anyone with the slightest understanding of politics can understand that the recent IT raids were for what reasons...IT raids were with a political motive...it is to control or checkmate Yediyurappa...as both (Siddaramaiah and Yediyurappa) had a late night meeting about political developments, and the BJP that has government both at the Centre and state got to know about it from their sources, and probably have tightened things," he claimed.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)