Bengaluru: Coming out strongly in support to former minister and senior Congress leader, D K Shivakumar, who has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a disproportionate assets case, former Chief Minister, H D Kumaraswamy on Wednesday asked if the agency and the Income Tax department “were dead while Karnataka BJP leaders were laundering thousands of crores to purchase opposition MLAs since 2008.”
Speaking to reporters here at the office of the Janata Dal (S), he claimed Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa had himself admitted to offering Rs 10 crore to a JD(S) legislator's son , Sharanagouda, to persuade his father to join the BJP.
“I had released that audio tape and Mr Yeddyurappa had accepted that it was his voice on it. State BJP leaders offered crores under Operation Lotus. When the BJP came to power in 2008, they offered between Rs 10 crore to Rs 20 crore to opposition MLAs to lure them. This time also they have lured MLAs with money to bring down the coalition government,” he charged, demanding, “ Where are they getting this money to give to these legislators? When we have all this information, do you think IT and ED officials don’t?''
Ridiculingt Deputy Chief Minister Dr Ashwathnarayan, for saying that there was no place for the corrupt in “Nava Bharat,” Mr Kumaraswamy claimed he was the same man, who was responsible for setting fire to the BBMP office to destroy documents pertaining to corruption.
Referring to a book written by a former CEC, Vittal, Mr Kumaraswamy noted that he had spoken of Union governments misusing institutions like the CBI, I-T and ED to silence their opponents. ‘The present government is proof of that and those who don't fall in line will be tortured,” he claimed..
Also backing Mr Shivakumar, Janata Dal (S) supremo, Deve Gowda, accused the ED officials of being inhuman in not allowing him to return home to perform the rites for his father on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi.
