BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah lashed out at BJP National President Amit Shah here on Friday as he accused the BJP leadership of using income -tax officials to intimidate the Gujarat Congress MLAs huddled in a luxury resort o n the outskirts of Bengaluru.
Condemning the raids on the premises of state Energy minister DK Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah said, “I have no objection to the raid. But the timing is questionable. Why did the I - T officials raid the resort where the Gujarat MLAs are staying ? Why did they threaten the MLAs to return to Gujarat and tried to induce them with offerings of Rs 15 cr ore?”
Siddaramaiah’s outburst came in the backdrop of statement s by the Gujarat MLAs that the I - T officials threatened them at gun -point to return to Gujarat and tried to lure them with offerings of Rs15 cr ore each to change their loyalty.He reiterated his charge that the raids were conducted on the orders of Shah and is part of a conspiracy by BJP government at the Centre.
Siddaramaiah also questioned the use of CRPF contingent for the raids by keeping the state police in the dark. “ It is a violation of the spirit of federal system of democracy in the country, “ he said. Meanwhile, I-T raids at properties belonging to Shivakumar, his relatives and aides continued for the third day in many parts of the state on Friday, with speculation that it will continue on Saturday as well.
Other central agencies too are likely to join the investigation, with sources claiming that a team of Enforcement Directorate officials are already stationed in the city to pursue the case. The team will swing into action as soon as I-T officials complete the raid and file a complaint in case of irregularities. Some questions were also raised on the health of Shivakumar, as a team of physicians visited the house at around 10am on Friday.