Karnataka BJP minister’s meeting with state Congress chief triggers speculation

Shivakumar, however, said the meeting on Monday was a courtesy meeting with no discussion of politics. “A visit to the house is not about politics but other issues. To talk politics we would go to a resort or hotel,” Shivakumar told reporters at his home in Bengaluru.

Dissatisfied with the forest portfolio accorded to him, Singh was among the first MLAs to quit the Congress party in 2019 as the mass defections eventually brought down the Congress-JD(S) government in the state.

The development comes close on the heels of Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai divesting ministers of the responsibility of overseeing their own districts and appointing them in charge of regions where they have no political stakes.

Several state ministers are believed to be disgruntled about this new policy of the BJP government. State law minister J C Madhuswamy and revenue minister R Ashoka were among those to opt out of taking up any district in-charge roles.

Separately, BJP legislator B R Patil had also said that several ministers are in touch with the Congress. “Many have booked their tickets. The central leadership knows who will leave and who will stay,” Yatnal had said.

Tourism minister Anand Singh, the legislator from Vijayanagar district, was named as the minister in-charge of Koppal. The decision to move him from Vijaynagar and appoint Shashikala Jolle in his place triggered protests by his supporters in the district’s Hospet area two weeks back.

Last week, Singh also held a meeting with Bommai and the CM’s predecessor B S Yediyurappa.

There are also murmurs of other internal differences within the Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka. A proposed cabinet reshuffle is in the offing, with speculation doing the rounds that several ministers are likely to be replaced. “There could be President’s rule in Karnataka in the near future due to unhappiness among legislators of the ruling party over cabinet positions,” Congress’s C M Ibrahim said last week while announcing his own departure from the party after he was denied the post of Leader of Opposition in the state legislative council.