Meeting between Karnataka minister, state Congress chief sparks speculation
Bengaluru(PTI): A meeting between Anand Singh, a minister in the BJP government in Karnataka, and state Congress chief D K Shivakumar at the latter's residence here on Monday has sparked speculations, amid recent claims by the opposition party leaders that some ruling party leaders, including ministers, were in touch with them.
The Minister for Tourism, Ecology and Environment in the Basavaraj Bommai-led cabinet, driving to the KPCC chief's residence in a private car has raised eyebrows in the political circles, especially the BJP.
However, speaking to reporters, Shivakumar said they had met regarding a tourism project in his assembly constituency.
"I had seen Tunga aarti. Aimed at developing tourism in our constituency, I had requested for a programme to be worked out so that similar aarti can be organised at the sangam (confluence) of Cauvery and Arkavathi rivers near Mekedatu in my constituency. He (Singh) has said that he will send a team," Shivakumar said.
Speaking to reporters, while rejecting all political speculation in connection with the meeting, he said, "He (Singh) is a minister. If he has come openly to my house, how can he come with a political motive? No one will do that. Politics is done either at hotels or guest houses, not at home."
"All of us have that much common sense... I am a senior leader. He personally came to explain about the proposed programme. There's nothing else," he added.
The recent claims by Congress leaders, including Shivakumar and legislature party leader Siddaramaiah, that some legislators and leaders from the ruling BJP are in touch with them and may jump ship ahead of 2023 assembly polls, has given rise to speculations about Singh's move.
Meanwhile, not wanting to respond about the meeting between Singh and Shivakumar, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said, "....you have to ask them (about it)."
According to party sources, Singh is unhappy with the chief minister's decision to appoint him as district in-charge minister for Koppal, instead of newly-carved Vijayanagara district, which is his native.
Singh had last year openly expressed his disgruntlement, as Bommai allocated him the Environment, Ecology and Tourism portfolios, and had not taken charge as the minister for long, in want of a "better" portfolio.
He had finally relented after persuasion by the Chief Minister and BJP state leadership.
A four-time MLA, Singh was among the 17 legislators who had quit the Congress-JD(S) coalition and had joined the BJP in 2019.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Kamala Harris claims she 'had a certain responsibility' to argue against Biden running again
Washington: Former US Vice President Kamala Harris said on Monday evening that she regrets not expressing her concerns about then-President Joe Biden running for a second term when a majority of Americans felt he was too old for the job.
"I have and had a certain responsibility that I should have followed through on," Harris told Rachel Maddow on MSNBC in her first live television interview since the election.
Such a conversation, even if it happened privately and behind the scenes, would have been an extraordinary breach in a relationship between a president and vice president.
Harris' comments expand on a passage in her book, "107 Days," that looks back on her experience replacing Biden as the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee after he dropped out of the race. Harris ultimately lost to Republican candidate Donald Trump.
In the book, Harris wrote that everyone in the White House would say “it's Joe and Jill's decision” about running for reelection, referring to the president and first lady. “Was it grace, or was it recklessness? In retrospect, I think it was recklessness,” she wrote.
“The stakes were simply too high. This wasn’t a choice that should have been left to an individual’s ego, an individual’s ambition. It should have been more than a personal decision.”
In her interview with Maddow, Harris said, "when I talk about the recklessness, as much as anything, I'm talking about myself.”
Harris said in the interview she was concerned that “it would come off as completely self-serving” if she had counseled Biden not to seek reelection. She had competed against him for their party's 2020 nomination, and she was well positioned to run again.
A representative for Biden declined comment.
