‘It’s a conspiracy’, says D K Shivakumar before ED appearance

Shivakumar was directed to appear before the ED in Delhi by 1 pm on Friday. However, the Congress leader cited personal and family commitments related to Gowri Puja preparations for not being able to make the deadline but landed in Delhi by 6 pm.

He was accompanied by his brother and Congress MP D K Suresh and Indian Youth Congress national interim president BV Srinivas to appear before investigating ED officer Monica Sharma in Delhi.

“I will continue to explore all legal and political options to fight this conspiracy aimed to defame me and my party. I am confident that the law and administrative system of this country will provide justice to me,” he said, speaking to reporters after landing in Delhi.

Before leaving Bengaluru, Shivakumar called it a conspiracy and termed the “sudden scheduling” by the ED as “malafide”. He said he would not run away and is ready to face the ‘conspiracy.’ “Although the sudden scheduling by ED is malafide, I believe in rule of law & will definitely participate & fully co-operate with them and abide by the law of our country,” he wrote on Twitter.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) lashed out at the BJP-led Central government, calling it vendetta politics by the ruling party. Karnataka Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao said, “It is BJP’s agenda to finish off leaders from the opposition. These acts of being an authoritarian government pose a great threat to our democracy.”

He added, “Even Mukul Roy and Hemant Biswas Sharma have faced many cases. They were let free from such cases as soon as they joined the BJP. If the accused belongs to the BJP, the accused will be acquitted through a pardon scheme.”

He further questioned why such ‘attacks’ were being carried out only on leaders of Opposition parties. “Even while some BJP leaders acknowledged their own voices on audio tapes which indicated ‘Operation Lotus’ was carried out in the state to poach politicians from other parties, no investigation has been called for yet. Why do the governments take double standards for similar issues,” Rao asked during the press conference in Bengaluru.

Defending Shivakumar, who is also known as the ‘eternal troubleshooter of the Congress party,’ former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah accused the BJP of exacting revenge on the former for hosting Congress MLAs from Gujarat in 2017.

“Misusing investigative agencies for revenge is condemnable. The Central government is simply taking revenge against him (Shivakumar) by using the powers of the IT and ED for sheltering Gujarat Congress MLAs in 2017,” Siddaramaiah tweeted.

Earlier on Thursday, Shivakumar had reiterated that the summons is politically motivated as he had taken the responsibility of “protecting” Congress MLAs from Gujarat, Maharashtra and also Karnataka in the past.

The ED, in September 2018, had registered the money-laundering case against Shivakumar, Haumanthaiah, an employee at Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi, and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Shivakumar is an MLA from Kanakapura in Ramanagara district, located 50 kilometers away from state capital Bengaluru.