I-T dept raids Karnataka minister hosting Gujarat Congress MLAs in resort
Tax officials raided on Wednesday multiple properties linked to DK Shivakumar, a top minister in Karnataka who is hosting party legislators from Gujarat to avoid a break in their ranks ahead of a close Rajya Sabha election.
Officials raided 39 places linked to power minister Shivakumar, allegedly recovering Rs7.5 crore in cash, most of it from his Delhi home, as well as several documents.
The move triggered an angry response from the Congress, which accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of carrying out “an unprecedented witch-hunt”. Party leaders noisily protested in Parliament later in the day, forcing multiple adjournments in the Rajya Sabha.
The Congress has accused the BJP of using “money and muscle power” to engineer defections among its legislators in Gujarat, where senior party leader Ahmed Patel is seeking re-election to the Rajya Sabha, on August 8.
Last week, the Congress flew 42 legislators to a resort on the outskirts of the capital of Karnataka, where the party is in power, to keep the flock together. Six of its legislators have quit the party and three of them crossed over to the BJP. More defections can jeopardise Patel’s chances of re-election.
But the government said the ‘Eagleton – The Golf Village’, where the Gujarat legislators were camping, had not been raided. Finance minister Arun Jaitley told Parliament that only Shivakumar, who was trying to “hide behind the cover” of the lawmakers at the resort, had been questioned.
Jaitley told the Lok Sabha that tax officials found that Shivakumar was tearing up documents at the resort. “We recovered those papers as well,” he said.
The Congress termed the raids as “suspect” and “murder democracy”.
Ashok Gehlot, Congress’ Gujarat in-charge, said: “Our MLAs are being threatened, money was offered and raids are being conducted.”
His party colleague Anand Sharma said: “There is a trend now of abusing state power and agencies of the state. The timing is important and significant. This minister was coordinating the safety of the MLAs.”
One of the Gujarat legislators staying at the resort told Hindustan Times that he and his colleagues found out about the raids on TV.
“When we came here for breakfast we saw the news that raids were being conducted,” the legislator said.
On the other hand, the I-T department issued a statement denying the raids were related to the stay of the Gujarat MLAs. It said the searches were part of an evidence-gathering exercise.
“The search is a continuation of an investigation which has been in progress for a considerable period of time,” it said.
“There has been no contact with the MLAs [from Gujarat] and the search team.”
Officials raided 39 places linked to power minister Shivakumar, allegedly recovering Rs7.5 crore in cash, most of it from his Delhi home, as well as several documents.
The move triggered an angry response from the Congress, which accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of carrying out “an unprecedented witch-hunt”. Party leaders noisily protested in Parliament later in the day, forcing multiple adjournments in the Rajya Sabha.
The Congress has accused the BJP of using “money and muscle power” to engineer defections among its legislators in Gujarat, where senior party leader Ahmed Patel is seeking re-election to the Rajya Sabha, on August 8.
Last week, the Congress flew 42 legislators to a resort on the outskirts of the capital of Karnataka, where the party is in power, to keep the flock together. Six of its legislators have quit the party and three of them crossed over to the BJP. More defections can jeopardise Patel’s chances of re-election.
But the government said the ‘Eagleton – The Golf Village’, where the Gujarat legislators were camping, had not been raided. Finance minister Arun Jaitley told Parliament that only Shivakumar, who was trying to “hide behind the cover” of the lawmakers at the resort, had been questioned.
Jaitley told the Lok Sabha that tax officials found that Shivakumar was tearing up documents at the resort. “We recovered those papers as well,” he said.
The Congress termed the raids as “suspect” and “murder democracy”.
Ashok Gehlot, Congress’ Gujarat in-charge, said: “Our MLAs are being threatened, money was offered and raids are being conducted.”
His party colleague Anand Sharma said: “There is a trend now of abusing state power and agencies of the state. The timing is important and significant. This minister was coordinating the safety of the MLAs.”
One of the Gujarat legislators staying at the resort told Hindustan Times that he and his colleagues found out about the raids on TV.
“When we came here for breakfast we saw the news that raids were being conducted,” the legislator said.
On the other hand, the I-T department issued a statement denying the raids were related to the stay of the Gujarat MLAs. It said the searches were part of an evidence-gathering exercise.
“The search is a continuation of an investigation which has been in progress for a considerable period of time,” it said.
“There has been no contact with the MLAs [from Gujarat] and the search team.”
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