Bengaluru: Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Mallikarjun Kharge and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah held a meeting for an hour on Saturday, leaving eyebrows raised.
It is a known fact that the relationship between the two leaders has not been as cordial as it should have been.
The Kharge camp always alleged that it was due to Siddaramaiah that their leader could not become the CM in 2013 and now, there are rumours making rounds in Congress corridor that Kharge will replace Siddaramaiah before the 2018 polls.

The meeting on Saturday was held at Siddaramaiah’s home office and the new found bonhomie seems to have sparked various kinds of speculations..
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Kharge said he had discussed pending projects in Hyderabad-Karnataka region including the Wadi-Gadag railway line, Narayanapur Right Bank Canal, industrial zones, among others, with the chief minister.

When the query on ACB was placed, surprisingly, Kharge was in support of the CM, even as senior Congress leader like SM Krishna and Janardhan Poojary have opposed the move.

However, the BJP sees convenience factor behind this new initiation of ‘friendship’ as Kharge reportedly does not want CM to table the Karnataka Minority Commission report on encroachment of wakf property in the Legislative Council.

Reportedly Kharge’s name appears in the report and he wants the CM to save him, say BJP insiders.