In a widely shared video, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D.K. Shivakumar can be seen being ‘persuaded’ to place a photograph of former Deputy Prime Minister late Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel at a function to observe the death anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, in the Congress party office in Bengaluru.
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In the video shared by BJP MLA M.P. Renukacharya on Twitter, former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition in Karnataka Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah can be heard asking Mr. Shivakumar to place a portrait of Sardar Patel with Indira Gandhi to avoid criticism by the ruling BJP. Sardar Patel’s birth anniversary is on October 31.
Replying to Mr. Siddaramaiah, Mr. Shivakumar can be heard saying, “We never keep Patel’s photograph on this day (Indira Gandhi’s death anniversary).”
Later, Mr. Shivakumar can be seen directing an employee in the party office to bring a photograph of Sardar Patel.
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This conversation was picked up by the mike of a news channel.
Addressing mediapersons later, Mr, Shivakumar explained, “We used to have separate functions for the two events. We don’t want to mix death and birth anniversaries of leaders.”
On criticism by the BJP, the KPCC president said, “The BJP neither respects Indira Gandhi nor Sardar Patel... Please ask BJP leaders what they have done on the birth anniversary of Patel or death anniversary of Indira Gandhi. We respect our freedom fighters and leaders.”
This is not the only instance of conversations of politicians being inadvertently recorded and ending up in the public domain.
In October 2021, in a video that was widely shared, KPCC media coordinator M.A. Saleem and former MP V.S. Ugrappa could be heard discussing the alleged corrupt practices of Mr. Shivakumar.
Back in 2017, a video that was shared widely showed former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and the then Union Minister late H.N. Ananth Kumar discussing payments made to Central leaders of political parties.