Karnataka minister D K Shivakumar accused the BJP-led central government of misusing investigating agencies to “torture” him his family, hitting back a day after after it was reported that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a money laundering case against him.
Shivakumar said at a press conference in Bengaluru he was being harassed because he had hosted Gujarat Congress MLAs during Rajya Sabha elections in August 2017 and foiled the BJP’s plan to lure them.
“I am ready to face any kind of consequences or any type of torture they (central agencies) want to give me. I am confident that I will come out clean because I am a law abiding citizen,” said Shivakumar, who a senior Congress leader in Karnataka and is in charge of the irrigation and medical education ministries.
“I know how you (BJP) are trying to destabilise the government as Lok Sabha elections are coming up. You want to damage my party. You can’t form a government here. You are having a daydream. I know how many MLAs you are trying to block and how many crores you offered,” he said. The Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) govern Karnataka together as alliance partners.
Shivakumar rejected BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra’s allegation that he had paid money to top Congress leaders, saying “blackmailing tactics will not work”.
“Unnecessarily you are bringing my party leaders (into the controversy). I have not paid any money to my party leaders, nor to the party. If anything is there, it is me and my party. They have to ask me, I have to reply to them. I need not reply to any of my BJP friends,” he said.
“BJP leaders are acting like judges and the supreme authority. How can (former Karnataka chief minister) BS Yeddyurappa say that he will send me behind bars within two days? Who is he by the way?”
The ED booked Shivakumar after the Income Tax department earlier this year filed a case before a special court in Bengaluru accusing the politician of tax evasion and hawala transactions worth crores of rupees.
First Published: Sep 19, 2018 22:18 IST
