Bangalore, Nov 7: A controversy has erupted over former Karnataka chief minister and JDS leader H D Kumaraswamy's meeting with a top police official of CID which is probing alleged irregularities in Upper Krisha Project when his father H D Deve Gowda was the chief minister in the 90s.
Kumaraswamy on Sunday admitted that he had met CID DGP Shankar Bidari last night hours after denying the meeting in the wake of Congress raking up an issue over it.
Taking a dig at Kumaraswamy, KPCC President G Parameshwara has mocked the meeting as “dinner diplomacy”.
CID recently filed an FIR against many officials allegedly involved in the Upper Krishna Project ‘piece contract' scandal during 1995-98, when Gowda was the state chief minister.
Though none from the Gowda family have been named in the FIR, both the former prime minister and Kumaraswamy had deplored the police action, calling it “political vendetta”.
According to reports, Kumaraswamy met Bidari for over 90 minutes late last night leading to speculations.
While in the morning Kumaraswamy rejected Parameshwara's claims that he had met Bidari, asserting that he was ready for any probe including by CBI, he did a u-turn admitting to the meeting.
“Bidari wanted some clarifications about the Upper Krishna project and as a responsible citizen I met him,” Kumaraswamy told reporters at Madur, 75 kms from here.
Parameshwara later said “We are not questioning Kumaraswamy's duty as a responsible citizen but only the timing of his meeting with the CID chief”.
