Bengaluru: Several ministers in Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's cabinet are jittery in the aftermath of countrywide raids by Income Tax officers on premises owned by Mr V G Siddhartha, son-in-law of former external affairs minister S M Krishna, and Chairman and Managing Director of Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Company Ltd, with speculation rife that New Delhi was trying to present itself as completely non-partisan in uncovering undisclosed income.
Sources said Congress ministers were edgy for two reasons: as authorities have not spared the likes of Mr Siddhartha, a relative of Mr Krishna, they would no longer be able to derive political mileage by accusing the BJP-led NDA government of singling them out for IT raids, as they did when the office and residences of energy minister D K Shivakumar and his supporters were raided.
Secondly, Thursday's raid was the result of some documents unearthed at the residence of a Director of Cafe Coffee Day (CCD), known to both energy minister D K Shivakumar and Mr Siddhartha. These documents allegedly belonged to Mr Siddhartha, resulting in searches even in his parents' residence in Chikkamagalur district. In fact, the residence of his chartered accountant Mr Sundaresh in south Bengaluru too was searched on Thursday.
BJP blackmailing congress leaders, says Dinsh Gundurao
Congress leader Dinsh Gundurao said, “The BJP has been blackmailing Congress leaders. That seems to be part of the BJP’s strategy to lure Congress leaders and make them join the party. If the leaders refuse, they would be ‘fixed’ in one case or the other. This is how the BJP is blackmailing Congress leaders. Using this tactic, many Congress leaders have been inducted into the BJP. I think the BJP might have used similar tactics against Mr Krishna too, to get him into their party. Now they might have realised that they have nothing to gain from Mr Krishna and so ordered an I-T raid.”
