BENGALURU: Deputy Chief Minister and KPCC D K Shivakumar attacked the Income Tax (IT) department, alleging that sleuths acting as “agents of BJP” had raided his supporters for the past three or four days in Kanakapura, in Bangalore Rural LS constituency, as political vendetta.
“They (IT sleuths) are only worried about me and my party. Have they raided any BJP and NDA leaders? They have acted upon the instructions of their bosses who want to harass us. Are NDA candidates spending only Rs 85 lakh in every segment, as per the ECI?” he asked.
Replying to a query at an interaction with journalists, organised by Press Club of Bengaluru, Shivakumar alleged that IT seluths have been harassing District Central Cooperative bank presidents and those who run businesses. “BJP is using IT and ED agencies as weapons due to fear of defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. It happens in every election and is not new to us,” said MP and Congress candidate DK Suresh. Speaking to the media in Ramanagara, Suresh alleged that BJP is misusing the IT department against Congress leaders.
“That is one of the weapons the BJP has. They are afraid of defeat, they know nothing except IT, ED, CBI, as they, including the PM, have no proper reply about their achievements in the past 10 years,” he alleged. He said the BJP has been trying to weaken Congress supporters but will not succeed.
IT sleuths had raided Bengaluru Central Cooperative Bank (BDCC) president M D Vijayadevu’s Teppalu resort at Maralebekuppe, and his house in Kanakapura, until late night. They had also raided the houses of Bengaluru Milk Union Limited (Bamul) president H P Rajkumar, DKS Trust president Chikkondahalli Vishwanath and seized cash, according to sources. They had conducted raids based on information that cash had been stocked up for elections, they added.