What was in those bags B S Yediyurappa carried to Delhi? H D Kumaraswamy asks

JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy on Saturday said Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi piqued his curiosity.

“According to my information, Yediyurappa had six bags with him. What was in those bags?” Kumaraswamy wondered, amid speculation that Yediyurappa was on his way out.

"It piques one's curiosity. Was Yediyurappa carrying six bags full of documents on issues faced by Karnataka? Or, was it something else? Media reports claimed that these were gifts. Did these bags go in with Yediyurappa when he met the PM?" he asked, taking a dig at Yediyurappa's meeting with Modi.

The former chief minister was speaking after holding a district-level meeting with the party cadre. The party is conducting district-level meetings for the past three days, he said. "We will fight the Zilla Panchayat and Taluk Panchayat elections fiercely. This is like the semi-finals ahead of the Assembly elections. I have urged all party members to spend time with people at the ground level," he stated.

Regional issues will be the party's electoral plank in the next elections, Kumaraswamy said, giving an instance of the Mekedatu and Mahadayi projects that are stuck in disputes.

"Yediyurappa recently claimed that Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat was here to discuss Mekedatu and Mahadayi issues, whereas he was here only to review the implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission project. The same Union minister has told the Tamil Nadu minister that Mekedatu still has a long way to go before being approved. This shows that the Centre is not serious about Karnataka's interests," Kumaraswamy alleged, reiterating that Karnataka did not need "high command" administration.