JOIN USThe Karnataka Congress rushed to D K Shivakumar’s defence by lashing out at the Modi administration for "abusing" investigating agencies to decimate political opponents.
"The BJP-led Centre is desperate to arrest Shivakumar," Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Dinesh Gundu Rao alleged.
Rao accused the Central government of desperately trying to arrest Shivakumar and hounding him for the past two years. "Both the state and Central BJP leaders are displaying their cowardice. Since they cannot face him politically, they are misusing investigating agencies to corner him," he told reporters.
"Prima facie it is clear who and what the objective behind the summons is," he said and accused investigating agencies of selectively leaking "half-truths" to the media to defame opposition leaders.
"The agenda of BJP is to finish off opposition leaders. These are acts of an authoritarian government which is a great danger to our democracy," he charged.
Shivakumar also found support from Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah - the two don't belong to different factions within the party. Siddaramaiah condemned the Centre for using investigating agencies to "exact revenge."
On Twitter, Siddaramaiah accused the BJP of targeting Shivakumar for sheltering Gujarat Congress MLAs in 2017 ahead of crucial Rajya Sabha polls.
"The Central government is exacting revenge against D K Shivakumar by misusing I-T and ED for sheltering Gujarat Congress MLAs. If he had committed a mistake they would have prosecuted him for wrongdoing. But, misusing investigating agencies for revenge is condemnable," he said.