Surjewala did not conduct meeting with officials: CM Siddaramaiah

New Delhi: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said that Congress general secretary (incharge Karnataka) Randeep Surjewala did not hold a closed door meeting with Karnataka officials.

“Surjewala did not hold any such meeting with Karnataka officials. If anybody said this, this was totally wrong,” Siddaramaiah told reporters here.

The CM, who was in the national capital to attend Congress OBC leaders conclave, said that Surjewala held  meetings with only ministers and MLAs. When asked, Co-operation Minister K N Rajanna stated that Surjewala held a meeting with officials, the CM said that, “You can ask Rajanna only.”  If any party leader held a meeting with officials it is wrong, the CM said. 

The CM’s clarification came in the background of Co-operation Minister K N Rajanna alleging that the Congress general secretary held a closed door meeting with the North Indian officials working in the Karnataka government at Bengaluru recently.

Earlier also there were allegations that Surjewala held meetings with some of the state government officials. However the CM had also denied any such meeting.

It may be noted that Rajanna and Social Welfare Minister H C Mahadevappa, both loyalists of Siddaramaiah skipped the one-to-one meeting with Surjewala recently at Bengaluru.