Congress claims foul play as CBI raids KPCC President’s house

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CBI officials raided the house of Karnataka Congress President D. K. Shivakumar on October 5, 2020, said a News18 report. The raid resulted in a war of words between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress. The Congress claimed that the Centre is using the CBI to fix the State party President ahead of the by-election to two assembly seats.

The CBI conducted the raid after receiving permission from the state government to investigate Shivakumar’s connection to a money laundering case. However, Shivakumar challenged the prosecution assent in the Karnataka High Court that in turn issued a notice to the government.

The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee’s (KPCC) Working President Salim Ahmed said the panicked BJP was targeting their party for fear of losing both assembly seats. The KPCC had demanded an inquiry against Chief Minister B. S. Yediyurappa’s son B. Y. Vijayendra, however, the BJP instead focused on the KPCC, said Ahmed.

Opposition leader Siddaramaiah also condemned the raid calling it a “witch hunt.”

A large CBI team conducted raids at 15 places in the state linked to Shivakumar while a separate team raided his younger brother and Bengaluru Rural MP DK Suresh’s house. Yet another team went to their village in Kanakapura taluk.

Shivakumar became the KPCC President a few months ago with promises to bring the party back to power in Karnataka. However, the troubleshooter and ace strategist is not unfamiliar with controversies. The Income Tax (IT) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided him in 2017 resulting in a huge uproar in state politics. Later, he was arrested and taken to Delhi’s Tihar jail for nearly two months. Since then, he has been regularly attending IT and ED investigations.

In 2019, Shivakumar said the ED officials assured him safety if he joined the BJP.

The localities of Sira and R. R. Nagara will vote on November 5. Both the seats are in his area of influence and Shivakumar has stated that he will work tirelessly to defeat the BJP in both constituencies.