JOIN USWater Resources Minister M B Patil on Wednesday said he had “reliable information” that he will be the next target of Income Tax raids.
Patil’s apprehension came just hours after the I-T department conducted raids on the residences of Energy Minister D K Shivakumar.
“I have credible information from multiple sources that I too will be raided. It can happen any time... this week.. this month.... or before the elections. It is a conspiracy hatched by the BJP to tarnish my image and weaken the Congress in the state,” Patil told reporters in Bengaluru. The minister said he cannot reveal his sources as “they” will land in trouble. He indicated that one of his sources could be from the BJP camp.
Patil heads the Vijayapura-based BLDE Group, which runs a chain of educational institutions across the state. The minister said he had nothing to hide but was against the “misuse of the I-T department by the BJP for political gains”.
“I will welcome the I-T sleuths with a bouquet if they come to my doorstep,” Patil said but did not specify the grounds on which the proposed raids were being planned on him. “It could be because I am a prominent Lingayat leader in the Congress,” he said.
On his name figuring in the diary reportedly belonging to Congress MLC K Govindaraj containing details of payoffs by state leaders to the high command, Patil said, “If my initials are there in the diary, let them take it to the logical end. The I-T department should act quickly and should not make it an election issue.”