CM Siddaramaiah raises 'honey trap' issue with Congress top brass

New Delhi: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah apprised the top Congress leadership, including leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, about the ‘honey trap’ issue and other political developments in the state here on Thursday.

The chief minister, who met Gandhi alone, was closeted with him for more than 20 minutes. Siddaramaiah, who was in the national capital on an official tour, also met  party general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal.

However, Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress president D K Shivakumar, who is also in the city, did not accompany the chief minister during these meetings.

The CM also held an exclusive meeting with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday night.

Siddaramaiah, in his meetings with these leaders, said that his government would probe the ‘honey trap’ issue and would take action against the culprits, sources in the Congress said.

The CM also raised the pending nomination to the four seats up for grabs in the Council and promised to recommend names to the party leadership for the nominations.

The chief minister said he would rejig his Cabinet after a few months in the state.

Sources in the Congress said Venugopal expressed unhappiness over the ‘honey trap’ issue raised in the Assembly and said it had embarrassed the party.

He assured the leaders that the issue would be handled carefully so that it would not damage the party’s reputation, sources said.