Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy Thursday led a protest by the Congress-JDS ruling alliance in front of the Income Tax department here in a furious response to a statewide pre-dawn IT crackdown on his partymen and others.
Raising slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and waving party flags, the Congress and JD(S) activists gathered within hours after the IT raids with the help of CRPF personnel at 15 to 20 places including Bengaluru, Mandya, Mysuru, Hassan and Shivamogga.
Congress and JDS activists who tried to storm the Income Tax office were arrested and later released as the protest on the ever busy Queens Road resulted in chock-a-block with hundreds of vehicles stuck in the traffic jam.
The ruling alliance was particularly angry as they alleged that the IT raids were carried out on JD(S) leaders overseeing the elections of Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil Kumaraswamy in Mandya and nephew Prajwal Revanna in Hassan.
Taking on the Modi government in the first such protest by the State chief minister against a central department in recent memory, Kumaraswamy lashed out at it for "misusing" the IT department and other central agencies.
Terming the Centre's behaviour as an "assault" on the federal system, he alleged that Modi has been misusing the constitutional bodies, which shows his "dictatorial streak."
At Hassan, Revanna said, "So long as I have the blessings of Sringeri Sharadamba and Shankaracharya, nothing will happen...Anybody conspiring against me or trying black magic will be destroyed. I am so well protected."
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