Triggering political speculations, AICC general secretary K.C. Veugopal made a surprise visit to Bengaluru on Monday.
Mr. Venugopal held consultations with Deputy Chief Minister and KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar as well as AICC president M. Mallikarjun Kharge, who was also in Bengaluru. However, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was away in Mysuru. Mr. Venugopal reportedly held talks with prominent Congress leader and Public Works Minister Sathish Jarkiholi.
While Mr. Shivakumar sought to downplay the sudden visit of Mr. Venugopal to Bengaluru, speculations were rife that he may have rushed to Bengaluru to quell the alleged dissatisfaction among a group of legislators led by Mr. Satish Jarkiholi, who hails from Belagavi district. However, Mr. Jarkiholi made it clear to mediapersons that he was not dissatisfied.
On the reports that he was set to visit Mysuru along with nearly 20 MLAs from Congress to send a message that he has the support of so many MLAs, Mr. Jarkiholi said it was just a group of like-minded MLAs who wanted to visit Mysuru on the invitation from other MLAs in Mysuru. However, the group did not go ahead with its Mysuru visit plans.
Mr. Venugopal’s visit also coincided with the I-T raids on a contractor that have resulted in unearthing of huge sum of money.
Responding to queries by mediapersons, Mr. Shivakumar said Mr. Venugopal had arrived in Bengaluru to review the preparations for Lok Sabha polls, particularly to look into the issue of Ministers being asked to submit reports on the situation in districts assigned to them.
Referring to the allegations levelled against him by the Opposition parties in the wake of the I-T raids on a contractor in Bengaluru resulting in unearthing of crores of money, he said: “I am not a coward. I will not run away. I will give a befitting reply to all of them including the former Chief Minister.”
