Bengaluru: Direct Centre not to order IT raids on us; Congress to President

Bengaluru: The Congress on Friday petitioned the President of India and Central Board of Direct Taxes to direct the Union government to desist from carrying out income tax raids on the residences and offices of workers and leaders of both Congress and JD(S), who are running a coalition government in the state.

KPCC president Dinesh Gundurao sent the letter through Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar on Friday.

In his letter, Mr Gundurao recalled how the income tax department targeted Congress leaders just before the Assembly elections in 2018. “Our district president of Uttara Kannada Bheemanna Naik was raided and he could not come out of the house for three days and during that period he could not campaign,” he said.

He charged that the income tax department once again raided the offices and residences of workers and leaders of the two parties in Hassan, Mandya, Shivamogga, Mysuru, Chikkamagaluru and Ramanagara at the behest of the Narendra Modi government. The raids were nothing but political vendetta and a witch-hunt. “I would like to request you to immediately ask the government not to carry out raids during elections as it would instil fear psychosis among the leaders and workers. It is clear that this has been done at the behest of central government headed by Narendra Modi. This would derail our campaign process. Therefore, we request you to direct the income tax department desisting from conducting IT raids,” he said.