Siddaramaiah meets Venugopal in Delhi, likely to brief Rahul Gandhi on sting operation case
New Delhi: Karnataka’s former Chief Minister and Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Siddaramaiah met AICC General Secretary K.C. Venugopal in New Delhi on Monday and is likely to meet senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi later in the day amid the ongoing controversy surrounding the alleged sting operation linked to him.
Siddaramaiah is expected to brief the party leadership on the latest developments in the case and discuss the possibility of certain insiders being involved in the sting operation.
He has already held discussions on the matter with members of his close circle.
Siddaramaiah earlier indicated that he had filed a complaint in connection with the sting operation and that the investigation into the matter was not appropriate.
Meanwhile, several Karnataka Congress leaders accompanied Siddaramaiah during his meeting with Venugopal in Delhi.
Urban Development Minister, his son Yathindra Siddaramaiah, Chief Minister’s Political Secretary A.S. Ponnanna, former ministers Venkatesh, Legislative Council members Nagaraj Yadav, Dr Thimmaiah and Shivakumar, former member Ramesh Babu, and Vice-Chairman of the State Guarantee Schemes Implementation Authority Mehroze Khan were present during the meeting.
The sting operation case has triggered a political controversy in Karnataka, with the CCB investigating the alleged operation, the circulation of the video and the circumstances surrounding its recording.
Siddaramaiah had described the alleged sting operation against him as a systematic blackmail conspiracy, naming a journalist and Krupa Alva of Mangaluru as people he believes were behind it. His remarks have added fresh momentum to the controversy, which has now reached the national political arena amid competing allegations about the possible involvement of Congress members.
Siddaramaiah said his eight years as Chief Minister and his long political career had not been marked by allegations of this kind. He accused unnamed individuals of using blackmail as a political tactic and insisted that he had committed no wrongdoing.
Siddaramaiah maintained that the video—which purportedly featured claims of sexual abuse from an incident in 2011 and surfaced on social media—is completely baseless and part of a malicious political campaign to tarnish his character.
He personally lodged a formal complaint with the Bengaluru City Police Commissioner, demanding an impartial and fair investigation to unmask the real culprits behind the concocted case.
He moved the Bengaluru City Civil and Sessions Court to obtain an interim injunction restraining newspapers, television channels, and social media platforms from publishing or broadcasting the unverified video.