Congress seeks IT chiefs' transfer over raids

The KPCC has written to the Election Commission of India (ECI) seeking the transfer of Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax and Director General (Investigation), B R Balakrishnan, to ensure free and fair polls.

In the letter, KPCC said Balakrishnan “has been repeatedly trying to misuse his office and has been targetting only JD(S) and Congress workers.” Referring to the recent raids on aides of Congress candidates S S Mallikarjun, Rizwan Arshad and Prakash Hukkeri, the letter said the I-T department is trying to present a picture as if only JD(S) and Congress candidates are flush with funds, while BJP is not.

KPCC also disapproved of the letter by Balakrishnan to ECI in which he termed the recent protest by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and other leaders of the state government as “Mamata Banerjee tactics”. Such political comment by a government official “reflects his hostility and sense of vindictiveness” against the coalition government, it read.

The state government, it can be recalled, had accused the Income-Tax Department of selective raids and Balakrishnan of bowing to the whims of the Central government. A protest was held by Kumaraswamy and others in front of the Income-Tax (Karnataka and Goa region) office on March 28.

Both the Congress and JD(S) have urged the authorities to probe the mysterious box which was purportedly unloaded from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s helicopter in Chitradurga recently. While Kumaraswamy sought answers from the Election Commission over the contents and the destination of the mysterious box, KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao dared the Income Tax department to investigate. “Modi should clarify what was transported in the box,” he demanded.