BJP raises objections as Randeep Surjewala participates in Bengaluru infrastructure meeting

BENGALURU: Congress general secretary in charge of Karnataka, Randeep Singh Surjewala, on Tuesday courted controversy after he reportedly attended an official meeting chaired by deputy CM DK Shivakumar to discuss infrastructure upgrade in Bengaluru.
Shivakumar, who went on a tour of Bengaluru city to take stock of civic projects under implementation, held a meeting with officials from the state government and BBMP at a private hotel here. BJP shared a photograph of the meeting on its Twitter handle, in which Surjewala is seen sitting next to Shivakumar.
The DCM junked the claim and said there was no such official meeting held.
He said: "Officers had come to take me to the BDA office when I was with Surjewala. Let BJP tweet whatever they want." Some Congress functionaries, too, confirmed it was not an official meeting. TOI could not independently verify the authenticity of the photo, which also showed energy minister KJ George, housing minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan and Shivajinagar MLA Rizwan Arshad.
The BJP, in a tweet, asked CM Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar: "Is this an 85 percent deal-fixing meeting? The 'secret meeting' held is just another way of Gandhis trying to control Karnataka. What is his capacity or authority to chair (sic) the meeting with BBMP and BDA commissioners/officials?"
Janata Dal (S) leader HD Kumaraswamy demanded an answer from the chief minister, calling the incident 'strange'.