Siddharamaiah in Delhi, urges Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to facilitate IAF Air Show during Dasara-2023

New Delhi: Chief Minister Siddharamaiah met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Parliament Complex here this morning.

This is Siddharamaiah’s first meeting with the PM since becoming the Chief Minister of Karnataka in May. The CM felicitated the PM with a sandalwood garland, shawl, Mysore Peta, presented a sandalwood memento of Dasara Ambari Elephant and exchanged pleasantries.

Siddharamaiah is in Delhi to attend a meeting convened by the Congress National leadership to prepare for 2024 Lok Sabha polls. “I have not been able to meet Modi since I became the Chief Minister. The last time I was in Delhi, the PM was away on a foreign tour. This time, I was given time and I met him,” Siddharamaiah said.

Sources said that the CM sought PM’s intervention on various issues related to Karnataka. Siddharamaiah is said to have raised the issue of release of rice for his Government’s Anna Bhagya Scheme as in June, the Centre stopped the sale of food grains to States from Food Corporation of India (FCI) stocks.

The meeting comes at a time when PM Modi has been critical of the populist guarantee schemes launched by Karnataka Government. In his recent addresses, Modi had said that the schemes would empty the State treasury, weaken the State and put the future of youth in danger.

After meeting Modi, Siddaramaiah met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and requested him to hold an Air Show by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in Mysuru during Dasara (Oct. 15 to 24).

The CM told the Defence Minister that the recent Dasara High-Power Committee meeting had made a decision to hold an Air Show as a major attraction apart from its traditional aspects. He said the IAF had conducted Air Shows at the Torchlight Parade Grounds in Mysuru in 2017 and 2019 and the show was well received by the people of Mysuru and Karnataka.

Siddharamaiah also met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and discussed issues related to Karnataka including GST share and then called on Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge.

Later, he met Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari.