Siddaramaiah leaves stage as DK Shivakumar arrives: Is CM ignoring DKS?

Chief Minister Siddarmaiah and Energy Minister DK Shivakumar were supposed to share the dais at the volleyball tourney Siddaramaiah left the venue despite the organisers informed about Shivakumar's arrival Chief minister's gesture has given rise to speculations

Did Chief Minister Siddaramaiah avoid sharing the stage with Energy Minister DK Shivakumar at the recently concluded Suvarna Mayor Cup Volleyball tournament? At least that's what his gesture conveyed when he hurriedly left the venue just five minutes before minister Shivakumar came to the venue.

Siddaramaiah who inaugurated the final match stayed to watch the nail-biting match between Punjab Police team and IOB Chennai team. In fact, he was there till the first two sets were played. By that time, the organisers had announced - couple of times - the arrival of Shivakumar at the venue. As the second set completed, Siddaramaiah got up from his seat and walked out of the stage along with MLAs Bhairathi Basvaraju and ST Somashekhar much to the surprise of many, reports Kannada Prabha. Immediately, after he left the venue, Shivakumar arrived on to the stage in a gap of just five minutes.

But the hurried exit of the chief minister before his cabinet colleague arrived has led to much speculation especially after Shivakumar faced the Income Tax raid last week. It may be recalled here that Shivakumar who had taken the onus of protecting the Gujarat Congress legislators had to face the IT raid for 74 hours at his house. To make things worse for him, the IT sleuths had also raided his father-in-law, aides and acquaintances' properties too. During the raid, chief minister Siddaramaiah had seldom commented on it. While questioning the timing of the raid, Siddaramaiah had just stated that "The raid was politically motivated."  Nothing more than that.

Meanwhile, DK Shivakumar's mother Gowramma who too had faced the Income Tax raid on her farm house near Kanakapura had come down heavily on chief minister Siddaramaiah and put the blame solely on the chief minister. Minister Shivakumar tried to allay the tension by claiming that it was an emotional statement by a mother and publicly apologised to Siddaramaiah on behalf of his mother. He had also requested the media not to attach much significance to it.

In fact, this was the first time that Shivakumar participated in a public function after facing the marathon raid. Although, minister Shivakumar has stated that the party and the party leaders have stood by him, chief minister's gesture at the volleyball tournament was quite contrasting.