BENGALURU, VIJAYAPURA: Union Minister For Steel and Heavy Industries HD Kumaraswamy on Friday alleged that Karnataka Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara was targeted by one of his cabinet colleagues in the Ranya Rao gold smuggling case. “A powerful Congress leader is behind the conspiracy and it is a plot to unseat Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and seize the CM’s post”, he alleged while addressing reporters in New Delhi.
Kumaraswamy said the ‘powerful leader’ tipped off customs officers helping them to arrest the actress when she arrived at the Bengaluru International Airport with the smuggled gold. The ‘powerful leader’ wished to implicate Parameshwara in the case as the latter too was emerging as an aspirant for the CM post, according to Kumaraswamy.
The Enforcement Directorate, which is investigating the gold smuggling case, had recently raided the educational institutions belonging to Parameshwara.
Meanwhile, DyCM DK Shivakumar dismissed the allegations and questioned Kumaraswamy’s credibility and mental health. “Another name for chronic lying is Kumaraswamy,” Shivakumar said on Friday during a media interaction in Kolhara, Vijayapura district. “He has lost his mind. His mental health must have deteriorated,” he remarked.
But Kumaraswamy alleged that Parameshwara is being targeted in the gold smuggling case as part of an internal power struggle within the Congress party. “The real motive is to sideline the Dalit leadership and elevate a rival leader to the CM’s post”, he added.
He noted Parameshwara’s efforts to organise a Dalit convention and engage with the national leadership in order to stake claim for the CM post may have triggered the backlash from the ‘powerful leader’.Kumaraswamy referred to earlier statements made by Cooperation Minister Rajanna in the State Assembly, which hinted at the existence of a politically influential figure involved in surveillance and manipulation tactics.
Kumaraswamy also raised questions about how a Congress insider knew that a woman was smuggling gold from Dubai and the information that was eventually leaked to enforcement authorities. “Was the Intelligence department, which reports directly to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, truly unaware of these developments?”, he asked.
According to Kumaraswamy, the gold smuggling case was being used as a tool to damage Parameshwara’s credibility and derail his leadership ambitions. He alleged that the person aiming to succeed Siddaramaiah as Chief Minister was orchestrating the entire episode from behind the scenes.
Kumaraswamy also alleged that renaming Ramanagara as ‘Bengaluru South’ district was Shivakumar’s move to increase the value of his own lands. He said the cabinet decision will be reversed in the future.
“Why was the district renamed? The hidden agenda is clear. I won’t bother about it now. I will respond at the right time. Are they (Congress) going to be in power forever? What they have done now will be reversed. I know that. After all, this man (DKS) is a real estate businessman.
He knows how to play tricks to get his land value appreciated. Didn’t Ramanagara district already bring value to farmers’ lands?” Kumaraswamy asked. He accused the CM of hypocrisy. “He claims to be an AHINDA leader but the real tragedy is he is keeping those who grabbed Dalits’ land close to him,” he said.
Raids should not be politically motivated
MYSURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said that the recent raids by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on educational institutions linked to Karnataka Home Minister Dr G Parames-hwara are politically motivated. The Chief Minister said that he is not against the Central agency carrying out investigations to unearth black money, but is against using it for political vendetta.
On the Supreme Court observing that the ED was “crossing all limits” in several investigations, the Chief Minister said that he was not aware of the context in which the apex court had made the observation, but reiterated that Central agencies are meant to recover black money and check corruption and not to be used as a tool to settle political scores.