Karnataka's sting controversy has a new and unusual exhibit: a pair of smart glasses. Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has alleged that a sting operation was attempted on him and on Kerala Chief Minister VD Satheesan, both Congress leaders, using a visitor who wore Meta glasses into his office.
Speaking to Kannada broadcaster Asianet Suvarna News, Shivakumar claimed the episode was part of preparations for a wider operation aimed at Congress leaders. Notably, he said, no such attempt was made on BJP or NDA chief ministers.
The Visitor Who Talked Business, Then Politics
Shivakumar's account goes like this. An industrialist got an appointment through officials and opened with business talk. Then the conversation wandered into politics: booth-level strategy, political developments. That shift, combined with the glasses the man was wearing, set off the chief minister's suspicion.
"I asked my officials to conduct a small enquiry on the background of the industrialist," he said. What came back, he claimed, was a pattern: the same Meta glasses appeared in the visitor's meeting with Satheesan, but not in his meetings with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis or a Union minister. "He wore the Meta glasses only when he came to me and [VD] Satheesan," Shivakumar claimed.
He named no one, and produced no verifiable evidence of a recording attempt during the interview.
'Action Was Sought. We Are Not Disclosing It'
Pressed on why nobody had been acted against, Shivakumar pushed back. "Who said action wasn't sought? You just don't know, that's all. We are not disclosing it, that's all. We have taken all precautionary measures," he said.
He added that he had warned his cabinet colleagues to watch for attempts to trap them through personal assistants, phone calls and similar routes. "As the head of the government, which is like a family, I have to tell the Cabinet ministers to be conscious and not get fooled," he said. On whether names and documents would come out later, he was cryptic: "I have called them all and kept records. Not now. When the time comes, I will say what has to be said. This is not the time to speak."
The Siddaramaiah Videos Behind the War
The claim lands on top of an already bitter fight over purported sting videos linked to former chief minister Siddaramaiah. JD(S) chief and Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy has alleged that clips from 2011 were deployed to force Siddaramaiah out, and has accused Shivakumar of orchestrating an operation against his predecessor. Shivakumar denies it, and the Congress calls the charges politically motivated.
The row widened after Shivakumar warned ministers at an October 8 cabinet meeting about sting traps. Congress MLA Ravi Kumar Ganiga then claimed a Union minister and a Karnataka BJP leader had paid a private agency to target around ten ministers and the Chief Minister's Office, displaying a pen drive he said held evidence.
Siddaramaiah himself has gone to a Bengaluru court to stop the disputed videos from circulating and to get a police investigation going. On October 14, the court restrained media organisations and digital platforms from circulating two of the videos. The police probe into how the videos were made and spread is still on, and the cabinet has not ordered a separate SIT.
Claims Stacked on Claims
Strip away the rhetoric and the position is this: a serving chief minister says he was targeted with camera glasses, says he knows who is behind it, and says the proof exists but stays locked away for now. The opposition wants a transparent, independent investigation and questions how the government is handling the case.
Neither the Meta glasses episode nor the broader theory of a coordinated sting machine has been established with publicly disclosed evidence. Who commissioned what, against whom, and to what political end remains, for now, unanswered.
