Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi met Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel H.D. Kumaraswamy in Delhi on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

A meeting in Delhi of two political heavyweights, who are divided between parties, has added to the ongoing speculation over honey-trapping allegations made by Cooperation Minister K.N. Rajanna.

Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi, who was in Delhi to secure environment clearance for the proposed Shiradi ghat tunnel, met JD(S) leader and Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel H.D. Kumaraswamy, where it is learnt that they discussed the alleged attempts of honey-trapping of politicians.

Sources said that families of both leaders have had “bitter experiences” in this connection, and they discussed its impact on politics and how to tackle those behind it.

Mr. Jarkiholi’s brother, former Water Resources Minister Ramesh Jharkiholi, had to resign from the Cabinet of B.S. Yediyurappa in 2021 as videos of him in a compromising position with a woman surfaced in public. In 2024, Mr. Kumaraswamy’s nephew and Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna was arrested over charges of rape after several videos of him with women were leaked in Hassan days before the Lok Sabha elections.

The meeting of the two leaders took place in Mr. Kumaraswamy’s office in Parliament House, and later Mr. Jarkiholi also met former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda. Sources said that they discussed honey trap being increasingly used to “blackmail or sully the image of rivals or even to settle scores in politics.” Source, however, also said that they are “very close outside politics” and meet regularly, but such meetings get noticed only during politically volatile times.