Bengaluru: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Saturday clarified that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and himself did not breach protocol by not receiving Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bengaluru as they were obeying PMO’s orders.
He made the clarification amid a controversy of an alleged protocol violation during PM Modi’s visit to the city to congratulate ISRO scientists after the soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the South Pole of the Moon.
“Politicking is over, and now it is the time for development. Karnataka is a state of culture, and we had decided either of us would receive the Prime Minister at any given time, but as we had a communique from PMO, we did not attend it,” Shivakumar told reporters here.
In fact, the Prime Minister himself said he had asked Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar not to receive him at the HAL Airport as his arrival to Bengaluru from Greece could be delayed.
“I could not stop myself from coming here as I was away abroad, and hence I decided to first visit Bengaluru and greet the scientists. As I was coming from far away, there was a possibility of delay and hence I had requested the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister and the Governor (Thaawarchand Gehlot) not to bother to come and receive me so early in the morning. I thank them for their cooperation,” PM Modi said.
Interestingly, Chief Secretary Vandita Sharma, DG and IGP Alok Moha, Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda, Bengaluru Regional Commissioner Amlan Biswas, and Bengaluru Deputy Commissioner KA Dayanand received the PM.
Several BJP leaders greeted PM Modi by standing behind the barricades outside HAL Airport.
