Janata Dal (Secular) State president H.D. Kumaraswamy said his supposed meeting with Bharatiya Janata Party leader R. Ashok was a “figment of the imagination of a news channel”. He said he met Mr. Ashok during the filing of nomination of the JD(S) candidate at the assistant commissioner’s office, Ramanagaram. “The news channel misinterpreted the story,” he claimed. He said the party’s immediate priority was to wrest both Bangalore Rural and Mandya seats and “teach the arrogant Chief Minister Siddaramaiah a lesson”, Mr. Kumaraswamy asserted.
