Mandya, 9 October

Congress MLA Ravi Kumar Gowda (Ganiga) on Friday alleged that private agencies from Delhi and Kolkata were hired to spy on the CM's office and 10 ministers, and showed reporters a pen drive that he said contained evidence of the sting operations. 

The Mandya MLA said a Union Minister and two State-level leaders had jointly engaged private agencies to trap members of the state government and destabilise it, but did not name them. 

They had also allegedly been paid money to target the Chief Minister's Office, officials and ministers, he claimed.

"The plan was to target around 10 ministers, monitor their day-to-day activities, catch them in compromising situations and embarrass the government," he said, asserting that no minister had participated in or succumbed to the alleged attempts.

His comments come as Chief Minister DK Shivakumar had earlier in the week warned his Cabinet colleagues about the possibility of sting operations being conducted against them. Meanwhile, Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy alleged that Shivakumar had run a sting operation to usurp former chief minister Siddaramaiah.