Bengaluru: With the main fundraiser of the Congress, energy minister D.K. Shivakumar facing the heat after a series of raids on his houses and establishments, the party’s prospects in the December Assembly polls in Gujarat may take a severe hit. Reason: Karnataka which is one of the few states where the Congress is in power, was expected to heavily fund the party’s campaign in Gujarat with Mr Shivakumar doing the groundwork, which is not likely to happen now.
Many in the Congress are terming the raids as revenge taken by BJP national president Amit Shah against Ahmed Patel, the political secretary of AICC president, Sonia Gandhi, who is fighting the August 8 Rajya Sabha polls from Gujarat. Mr Shivakumar was assigned the pivotal task of safeguarding 44 Gujarat Congress MLAs from poaching by the Gujarat BJP and had lodged them at a resort in the outskirts of Bengaluru much to the consternation of the BJP top brass. They felt it was the opportune time to cut the Congress strongman to size ahead of the Assembly polls in both Gujarat and Karnataka. In fact, the BJP knows that the ‘big pockets’ of Mr Shivakumar deprived them of victory in the recent Nanjangud and Gundlupet Assembly bypolls with money power ruling the roost in these constituencies.
A senior government officer keenly observing the developments, said on the condition of anonymity that the timing of the raid was politically motivated and added a twist to the entire episode saying even many Congress leaders would be happy with the raids! “Now, Mr Shivakumar cannot function as he usually does, nor will other Congress leaders from Karnataka take the risk of diverting resources from here for the Gujarat elections, which will save them the trouble and ensure more funds for the Karnataka polls due in April-May,” the officer explained.
Congress insiders confide that it was Mr Shivakumar who arranged resources in the past for the party’s poll campaigns in states like Assam, Bihar and Kerala.
The BJP knows how to play this game quite well-in fact one of the effects of demonetisation in 2016 was a stop to the fund flow to the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj party (BSP) during the UP assembly elections which the BJP swept.
Karnataka was the largest state from where the Congress was planning to get resources for the polls. That hope has now been lost with I-T and Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials likely to closely track Mr Shivakumar and his transactions even if he manages to escape the dragnet this time.
In fact, neither Mr Amit Shah nor Prime Minister Narendra Modi may take it to heart if Mr Ahmed Patel finally wins the August 8 Rajya Sabha polls.
“For them, the Gujarat assembly elections are far more important as it is their home state. With polls becoming a big money affair, they have succeeded in destroying the confidence the Congress had of arranging resources for the Gujarat polls,” sources said.
