Cong raises K'taka I-T raids issue in Parliament; Jaitley says no vendetta

Preliminary reports suggest I-T dept recovered Rs 7.5 cr from D K Shivakumar's properties

The ruling Congress in Karnataka has spooked the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on several occasions in the last few months - be it the Kannada flag issue, the Bengaluru declaration on social justice, hijacking the anti-Hindi plank and the decision to support a move for a separate religion for Lingayats, the dominant community that has a leaning towards the BJP.

On Wednesday, Income Tax officials raided the residence of D K Shivakumar, Karnataka's power minister and his room at a resort in the outskirts of Bengaluru, where the Gujarat MLAs are housed.

The early morning raid by the IT department, which it claims was planned in advance, has been called by Ahmed Patel Patel as a "witch-hunt for one seat."

The issue rocked both the Houses of Parliament, which forced Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to issue a statement. He said that 39 locations, linked to Shivakumar were searched and IT officials had to follow the protocol of taking the statement of the person who has been raided.

"He (the minister) was at the resort and tearing up papers and documents. We recovered those papers as well, " Jaitley said, denying that there was any vendetta by the BJP.

IT offcials take away an unidentified man (background) allegedly linked to Karnataka Energy Minister D K Shivakumar, after a search at the minister's premises in connection with a tax evasion case, in New Delhi. Photo: PTI

The IT department claimed it recovered Rs 7.5 crore in cash from residences of Shivakumar.

The Congress is not buying this argument.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said using central paramilitary forces instead of local police for the search violated rules and exposes "political motivations behind the raids".

"Using IT Dept as a weapon of political vendetta is not only a blatant misuse of power, but also against principles of democracy and cooperative federalism," Siddaramaiah said in a tweet. "The Congress government in Karnataka will neither budge to such political blackmail nor stoop to vindictive politics."

Analysts are not amused and say this could have an influence on the coming Assembly elections in the state next year.

"It is too much a happy coincidence that Congress MLAs from Gujarat are in Bengaluru under care of Shivakumar and around the same time an IT raid were to be carried on him," said Sandeep Shastri, political analyst and Vice Chancellor of Jain University.

"Unfortunately, we have got into a situation where everything is black and white. The raids is considered as anti-corruption by BJP supporters, while it is a witch hunt, if you are anti-BJP. Nobody is talking about the issue and the political timing of the raid," said Shastri. 

The party's confidence in the Karnataka leadership - the only large state in which the Congress is in power, also made it become a safe haven for legislators from Gujarat, ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections next week. The Congress fears that its legislators may cross vote and cost its main trouble-shooter Patel his seat in the Upper House.

Patel is the third candidate from Gujarat for the Rajya Sabha elections to be held on August 8. BJP president Amit Shah and Union Minister Smriti Irani are the other two candidates, who have a comfortable majority due to BJP's two-thirds majority in the Assembly.