I-T raids a shameful attempt to threaten party workers: H D Kumaraswamy

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy Saturday accused the Income Tax department of "harassing" Congress and JD(S) workers in the state and sought the "immediate intervention" of the Election Commission in the matter.

In a pre-dawn raids on Thursday, I-T sleuths had carried out coordinated searches at many locations across Bengaluru, Ramanagara, Kanakapura, Mandya, Mysuru, Hassan and Shivamogga, triggering an angry backlash from leaders of the ruling Congress-JD(S) alliance. He termed the raids a "shameful attempt" to threaten and generate fear among party workers. Kumaraswamy on Saturday wrote on Twitter, "IT officials continued their raid. They raided the rice and sugar mills run by Congress and JDS workers till 4am today and put spy cams on their premises.

Disguising themselves as railway officials, they borrowed vehicles and are now staying at CFTRI Mysuru (sic)." "A shameful attempt to threaten and generate fear among our workers! We request the election commission to immediately intervene and stop this harassment of our workers," he said in another tweet. These tweets by Kumaraswamy came days after he took to the streets along with Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, CLP leader Siddaramaiah and KPCC chief Dinesh Gundu Rao on Thursday, and staged a protest in front of the I-T Department office here against the raids, in the first such protest by a Karnataka chief minister in recent memory.

Terming the raids "politically motivated," the ruling Congress-JD(S) alliance alleged that the I-T raids were carried out on JD(S) leaders overseeing the electioneering of Kumaraswamy's son, Nikhil, in Mandya and nephew Prajwal Revanna in Hassan. The ruling alliance leaders had said the raids on Thursday were targeted at state Minor Irrigation Minister C S Puttaraju, his relatives, and associates of Kumaraswamy's brother PWD Minister H D Revanna.

The crackdown had come a day after Kumaraswamy claimed on Wednesday night that I-T raids had been planned from 5 am Thursday. Strongly defending its action, the I-T department, in a statement on Thursday, had said its activities should not be politicised, personalised or trivialised. It had also said that no MP, MLA or minister had been covered in the searches which were being carried out on the basis of credible information.

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