BENGALURU: Fresh from the by-poll wins, Karnataka Congress has reinforced its efforts to defend Water Resources minister D K Shivakumar — the man instrumental in the party’s victory in Ballari parliamentary polls. Six MPs of the Congress — D K Suresh, S P Muddahanume Gowda, Dhruvanarayana, B N Chandrappa, K C Ramamurthy and G S Chandrashekhar — came together to hold a joint press conference to accuse the BJP of targeting D K Shivakumar.
“There is a conspiracy to target Shivakumar using central agencies, especially after our win in Ballari by-polls. Sriramulu’s slogan for Ballari by-polls was ‘Shanta to Delhi, D K to Jail’. It was not a mere slogan. It’s proof of how the BJP is conspiring to harass us,” said D K Suresh, Shivakumar’s younger brother.
While this isn’t the first time that the Congress has cried conspiracy, Wednesday’s press conference was the first combined effort by party MPs to accuse the Union government of vindictive politics. The MPs alleged that Shivakumar’s growing stature is compelling the BJP to target him.
“We haven’t received any fresh summons from the ED but we are being threatened to either join BJP or go to jail,” Suresh added.
With this attempt, Congress is building a narrative that Shivakumar is being targeted for becoming a threat to BJP in Karnataka. After a high-pitched clash with B Sriramulu for the Ballari seat, MPs of the Congress claimed that unable to challenge Shivakumar politically, BJP is attempting to misuse central agencies like I-Tax department and the ED to threaten him.