India, July 30 -- Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Tuesday sought to play down speculation of internal discord within the state Congress, asserting that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's one-on-one meetings with party legislators were well within his rights and not a cause for concern.

Responding to media queries at his Sadashivanagar residence in Bengaluru, Shivakumar firmly dismissed talk of a rift, following reports that he was not included in the CM's recent closed-door interactions with MLAs. "What's the issue? The Chief Minister is well within his authority to meet legislators. The AICC General Secretary, Randeep Singh Surjewala, had earlier gathered feedback from our MLAs and passed it on to the CM. These meetings ar...