BJP jealous of my son's growth: Shivakumar's mother

Congress leader D K Shivakumar's mother Gowramma on Monday accused the BJP of being jealous about the growth of her son as the Enforcement Directorate grilled him in connection with the alleged money laundering case.

Shivakumar appeared before the ED in New Delhi for the third time on Monday in the last four days. "They (BJP) lack empathy. The BJP and nobody else, is doing it (to Shivakumar). They are jealous that he is growing (politically) but we can't help it," Gowramma told reporters at her ancestral village in Kanakapura, around 60 km from here.

A teary-eyed Gowramma claimed that they did not become wealthy overnight but had been rich from ages. "They are charging that we have so much of wealth. We are not overnight rich. My father-in-law Kempe Gowda was a big name in the village," she recalled.

Gowramma also recollected that her house was raided when Shivakumar was only seven or eight years and they came out clean. "We have neither killed anyone nor stolen anything or cheated anybody. We have toiled hard to make this wealth. Some people could not tolerate it," she said.

The family, she said, was anguished as for the first time Shivakumar and his brother D K Suresh, MP, were not at home for Ganesha festival. While Shivakumar was questioned by the ED, Suresh was with him. Every year on Ganesha Chaturthi, the family paid homage to Kempe Gowda.

Shivakumar had on Saturday said he had requested the ED to dispense with his appearance on Monday in view of the festival, saying according to his family traditions, they offer prayers to ancestors. However, the ED refused to allow his plea, which was condemned by former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy.

The ED had in September last year registered the money laundering case against Shivakumar, Haumanthaiah, an employee at Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi, and others. It was based on a charge sheet (prosecution complaint) filed by the Income-Tax Department against Shivakumar last year before a special court in Bengaluru on charges of alleged tax evasion and hawala transactions worth crores.

The I-T department has accused Shivakumar and his associate S K Sharma of transporting huge amounts of unaccounted cash on a regular basis through 'hawala' channels with help of three other accused.