DKS meets TDP chief Naidu, sets tongues wagging

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: A “chance” meeting between Deputy Chief Minister and Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N Chandrababu Naidu has set the rumour mill into overdrive.

The two bigwigs met at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) airport in Bengaluru on Thursday and were accompanied by Minister for Kannada and Culture Shivaraj Tangadagi.

The Deputy CM was heading to Cong ress’ Foundation Day celebrations in Nagpur while Naidu was flying to his home constituency Kuppam.

Shivakumar insisted that the meeting with the former Andhra Pradesh CM was accidental.

However, some observers insist that it was not an isolated incident. The Deputy CM is also on good terms with YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) president YS Sharmila, who is in talks to merge her party with Congress.

She is the daughter of the late Congress and former CM of erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh (AP) YS Rajasekhara Reddy.

She had split with the Andhrabased YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) led by her brother and state CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy back in February 2021. In July of the same year, she launched the YSRTP.