BENGALURU: Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries HD Kumaraswamy on Tuesday demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into allegations of sting operations targeting political leaders and their families in Karnataka, claiming that a surveillance mechanism had been established at Sadashivanagar in Bengaluru to monitor ministers and legislators.
Kumaraswamy said he would meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah and submit a complaint, along with information available to him, seeking an impartial investigation into the allegations.
Addressing the media at JP Bhavan (Janata Dal-Secular headquarters in Bengaluru), the former chief minister alleged that four retired police officers had been engaged after DK Shivakumar became CM to gather information about the conversations and activities of political rivals using sophisticated equipment. He, however, clarified that he was not directly accusing the CM of ordering phone-tapping and said the allegations needed to be investigated to establish what was happening within the police and other departments.
“If a CM monitors his own party’s MLAs and ministers to secure his position, what does that say about the situation?” Kumaraswamy asked, insisting that the truth should emerge through an independent investigation.
Kumaraswamy also made an impassioned appeal to former CM Siddaramaiah to speak out against what he described as a conspiracy against him, questioning how a leader with eight years as CM had been pushed to the point of seeking legal protection.
“A leader who served as CM for eight years and surpassed Devaraj Urs’s record is now being pushed to the point of seeking a stay from the court. Shouldn’t the credit for this go to the government and the present Chief Minister?” the JDS leader asked.
Kumraswamy said people nurtured by Siddaramaiah were now putting him in a position where he had to approach the court for relief. “A person who served as Chief Minister for eight years has been brought to this situation. People whom you nurtured are now making him approach the court for a stay. Is this what it has come to?” he said.
Kumaraswamy said Siddaramaiah should not remain silent or fear the allegations, but confront them in the fighting spirit he had displayed earlier. “I may have fought against Siddaramaiah on political and administrative issues, but this is a different matter. It is a serious issue in the public domain, and my demand is that it should be investigated,” Kumaraswamy elaborated.
He alleged that political leaders had been successively targeted through sting operations and other controversies. “This is a very serious issue. You may think you can buy everyone with money and win anything, but that is not always possible. An end must be put to this. The government must decide to hand over the case to the CBI,” he said.
Kumaraswamy maintained that he was not seeking the dismissal of the Congress government or attempting to destabilise it. Instead, he wanted an end to the alleged practice of using sting operations to target individuals and damage the reputations of their families.
Shivakumar says time will answer charges
CM DK Shivakumar on Tuesday took a sarcastic swipe at Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy for accusing him of being behind the alleged sting operation targeting his Cabinet colleagues, saying time would answer the allegations. “Kumaraswamy has drawn the attention of the state to a good issue,” Shivakumar remarked sarcastically while responding to the media in New Delhi.
On Kumaraswamy’s allegation that Shivakumar himself was behind the alleged sting operation targeting his ministers, the CM said, “Time will answer Kumaraswamy’s allegations. Whatever documents he claims to have, let him produce them. He has called for an investigation, hasn’t he? Let him submit the documents to those who are supposed to conduct the probe.”
