I-T raids against minister politically motivated, says Siddaramaiah

Shivakumar, who hails from the powerful Vokkaliga community, has considerable influence in Bengaluru Rural and neighboring Ramanagara districts.

Bengaluru, August 2: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday alleged the I-T raids against his cabinet colleague DK Shivakumar was a politically motivated action to silence the voice against the BJP and vowed not to bow down to such "intimidation."

Siddaramaiah accused the Modi government of using the Income Tax Department for its "political conspiracies" The Income Tax Department conducted searches at multiple properties related to senior minister D K Shivakumar, who was overseeing the stay of 44 Congress MLAs from Gujarat at a resort near here, in connection with a tax evasion case.

"I-T raids targeting energy minister D K Shivakumar is completely politically motivated and central government's role behind it is well known," Siddaramaiah said in a statement. He said, "It is not right on the part of central government to use I-T department for its political conspiracies. We will not bow down to such intimidation."

Shivakumar, who hails from the powerful Vokkaliga community, has considerable influence in Bengaluru Rural and neighboring Ramanagara districts. He is also the Congress' propaganda committee chief ahead of the 2018 Assembly polls. According to norms, during such raids, I-T officials should obtain help from local police, Siddaramaiah said, adding "by violating rules CRPF staff were used".

"Let I-T officials conduct raids and investigation by following rules and let people know the truth. Instead, if such raids are conducted with a political vengeance, people will teach lesson in the days to come," he said. "I-T raid is being used as a tool to silence the voice against BJP. This is anti-democratic," he said.

The IT officials have brought Shivakumar from the resort to his city residence for further inquiry by where he was staying along with Gujarat Congress MLAs who have been camping here since Saturday last.

PTI