Bengaluru: Congress National General Secretary and Karnataka incharge Randeep Singh Surjewala on Wednesday refuted reports regarding a meeting between the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar in New Delhi, as “purely imaginary”.

Answering a question by the media on a possible meeting as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Dy CM Shivakumar are in New Delhi over developments in the state, he dubbed them “purely imaginary.”

“I have no knowledge of any such meeting of LoP Rahul Gandhi with the Karnataka CM and Dy CM. Yes. the CM and Dy CM are in Delhi in order to raise issues concerning people of Karnataka and the state government” Surjewala stated.

“There is designed discrimination and hatred in BJP and the Union government for the people of Karnataka for voting them out”. “That hatred gets manifested in denial of permission for various projects such as the Kalasa-Banduri project and the Mekedatu project by the Centre,” he said. “Our GST funds are denied, our share in the Finance Commission is denied. It is the duty of the CM and Dy CM to go to Delhi and raise the issues,” Surjewala stated. When asked about truck owners on indefinite strike over pending dues of over Rs 250 crore and halt in the transportation of Anna Bhagya free rice, Surjewala stated that he had taken note of the development.

“I have spoken to the Chief Minister and Minister concerned. They said that they would speak to the truck drivers soon and all outstanding payments would be released in a time bound manner,” he stated.