Modi govt using central agencies to tame opposition: Vadakkan

The Modi government is being run on the strength of raids, the Enforcement Directorate and 'file management', the Congress said today as it accused the Centre of using its agencies to "harass" opposition parties.
All India CongressCommittee spokesperson Tom Vadakkan said the recent Income Tax raids against Karnataka minister D K Shivakumar proved the point.
"The BJP runs the government on the basis of raids, ED and file management...Because he (Shivakumar) was instrumental in taking the (Gujarat) Congress MLAs there (resort), you (BJP) target him. You (central agencies) are doing a political job," he told PTI here.
In a move that had stirred a political controversy, the Income Tax department had in August raided various properties linked to Shivakumar, who hosted 44 Gujarat Congress MLAs at a resort on the city outskirts to thwart "poaching" attempts by the BJP ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls in that state.

Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, was contesting the elections to the Upper House from Gujarat, in which he managed to scrape through.
Vadakkan alleged that the CBI had "leaked selective information" while probing the mysterious death of Karnataka Deputy Superintendent of Police M K Ganapathy last year.

The CBI had registered a case against Bengaluru DevelopmentMinister K J George in connection with the case.
Ganapathy was found dead under mysteriouscircumstances in a hotel room, soon after an interview to alocal news channel during which he alleged harassment by then home minister (George) and two senior police officers.

A clean chit by the Congress-led Karnataka government's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to the minister was set aside by the Supreme Court, which had ordered a CBI probe in the case on a plea by Ganapathy's family.
Recently, media reports claimed that the CBI had found another bullet from the hotel room where the death took place.
"The CBI found an extra bullet. From time to time, the central investigative agencyleaks out information to media. They give out documents and say this is what we have found. The investigation is yet to be completed.
"Is the CBI (officially) saying that the bullet has been found? Is the spokesperson saying this? No! This is source-based story," Vadakkan said.

"Tomorrow, the CBI can claim that a sten gun was found. The bullet can be a plant, may not be by the CBI, but by somebodyelse," he said.
Notwithstanding the controversial developments, Vadakkan said the Congress would perform well in the Karnataka Assembly elections due early next year.
He said the party was well-placed in the southern state and the recent by-election results reflected that.
The All India CongressCommittee spokesperson added that the BJP did not have a leader with a clean image in the state.
In an apparent dig at BJP Karnataka chief B S Yeddyurappa, Vadakkan said the party was led by a person accused of many wrongdoings.

"People know his reputation. We have not done any perception management. He is involved in so many issues, which the people of Karnataka know," he added.