Rumours rife as HDK meets Jarkiholi in Delhi amid ‘honey-trap’ row
Jarkiholi’s cabinet and party colleagues in Karnataka, however, downplayed his private meeting with the JD(S) leader
A private meeting between Union minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy and Karnataka minister Satish Jarkiholi over a dinner at the former’s residence in New Delhi on Wednesday sparked a political curiosity in the southern state.
Neither Kumaraswamy, who holds the heavy industries and steel portfolio at the Centre, nor senior Congress leader Jarkiholi made any official statement regarding the dinner meeting, which was also attended by JD(S) patriarch and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda.
Jarkiholi’s cabinet and party colleagues in Karnataka, however, downplayed his private meeting with the JD(S) leader.
“We can’t ask our ministers and leader not to meet leaders from other parties. I am told this is a private meeting. Jarkiholi is a senior minister in our party and this is not a political meeting. There is no need to give it that shade,” Congress leader and state minister Chaluvaraya Swamy told reporters.
Another senior minister in the Congress-led Karnataka government, MB Patil, termed it a courtesy call. “We have several ministers from our state in New Delhi. There are no restrictions on meeting them,” he added.
Prior to his meeting with Kumaraswamy, Jarkiholi, who has been in Delhi for the last two days, addressed a press conference on recent allegations by Karnataka cooperation minister KN Rajanna in the assembly that an organised group attempted to “honey-trap” him and nearly 50 others.
“The (party) high command told me that KN Rajanna should have brought up the honey-trap issue at a Congress party meeting or directly with the chief minister rather than making a statement in the Assembly,” Jarkiholi said.
Jarkiholi, considered close to chief minister Siddaramaiah, also met national Congress leaders KC Venugopal and Mukul Wasnik at the party headquarters, urging them to intervene in the issue. A leader aware of the development, on the condition of anonymity, said that in the meeting with senior Congress leaders, Jarkiholi warned that failure to address the honey-trap allegations could have lasting repercussions for the party.
When asked about his meetings with the high command, Jarkiholi said: “I have not discussed the issue. But the high command leaders are aware of the matter in detail.”
