H D Kumaraswamy.
Credit: PTI File Photo
New Delhi: Indirectly targeting Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Friday said a 'big' Congress leader, who aspired to become the Chief Minister, behind the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid against Home Minister G Parameshwara.
Without naming Shivakumar, Kumaraswamy said the 'big leader' has been working to dent the image of all Congress leaders, who were seen as contenders of the Chief Minister's post in Karnataka.
Parameshwara is being deliberately targeted in a gold smuggling case as part of an internal power struggle within the Congress party, he said.
Parameshwara became a primary target for the 'big leader' after the Dalit leader emerged as a strong contender for the CM post and held meetings with his community MLAs to organise Dalit convention, Kumaraswamy said.
Kumaraswamy referred to earlier statements made by Co-operation Minister K N Rajanna in the state assembly, where he had said some powerful leader within Congress involved in honey trapping several political leaders in the state.
Alleging that the gold smuggling case was being used as a tool to damage Parameshwara's credibility, the Union Minister said the Congress high command should first look into infighting among it's leaders instead of blaming the Central government for ED raid.
Separately, Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi also said that the Congress party provided information to the ED and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was aware of the Congress leader who tipped off the central agency.
Commenting on the decision to rename Ramanagara district as Bengaluru South district, Kumaraswamy again targetted Shivakumar. "They are changing the district's name to increase their land prices," he alleged.
"They won't remain in power forever. A change is coming, and I am confident about that," he said, again aiming his criticism at Shivakumar.
"They've formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) over land I purchased 40 years ago and are targeting me. But 50 per cent of their lands are government properties. I know what they've done. Who encroached upon Dalit land in Shantinagar?" Kumaraswamy said.
Criticising state government decision to close down Jan Aushadhi Kendras, he alleged that the move appears to benefit certain medical lobbies by depriving poor and middle-class people of low-cost medicines. “Are you clearing Jan Aushadhi stores to make space for liquor or narcotics outlets?” he questioned.
Kumaraswamy also attacked the state government’s alleged decision in the cabinet meeting to close investigations related to irregularities in KPSC recruitment from 2011.
“Can this government clean up the KPSC? In fact, the person responsible for the Arkavathi land scam has now been made the KPSC Chairman. They’ve fixed rates of lakhs and crores for each post,” the Union Minister alleged.