India, Dec. 12 -- Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar on Friday sought to dismiss speculation about the nature of a Thursday night meeting with some leaders of the party, even as the tussle over the top post in the Congress government continues to dominate the state's politics.

"There was no dinner meeting or anything," he said, adding, "I had gone for a dinner to my former DCC (district Congress committee) president to pay respect; they contributed a lot to Karnataka, to Belagavi," as per news agency ANI. On who else was there, he said, "I went along with my friends. There is no other politics."

This came after news agency PTI reported, citing party sources, that Shivakumar and at least 30 Congress MLAs, including some minist...