BENGALURU: Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Wednesday hit out at ministers defending Chief Minister D K Shivakumar against allegations of irregularities, saying the documents and records clearly established the alleged wrongdoing.
In a post on X, accompanied by a video clip of his press conference held on Tuesday, Kumaraswamy alleged that Shivakumar had himself been involved in the alleged irregularities and had made his entire family “partners” in them.
Taking a swipe at ministers defending the Chief Minister, Kumaraswamy said some of them were resorting to “futile justification” despite the documents being clear. He alleged that the ministers were defending Shivakumar out of fear that they would otherwise not be able to continue in the Cabinet.
Kumaraswamy also referred to Shivakumar’s tenure as Urban Development Minister and chairman of the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Area Planning Authority (BMICPA), claiming that official records pointed to alleged irregularities during the period.
Referring to the governments headed by former chief ministers H D Deve Gowda and J H Patel, Kumaraswamy said the records also spoke about alleged irregularities in the subsequent government in which Shivakumar held the Urban Development portfolio and headed the BMICPA.
His remarks came amid an intensifying political confrontation between Kumaraswamy and Shivakumar over the NICE/BMIC project, with the Union Minister continuing to target the Chief Minister over the project.