Decode Politics: SC relief to Congress’s D K Shivakumar; in his long race to be CM, one case down, others to go

“I would like to thank the judges for upholding justice,” Shivakumar said on March 5, adding, “I will comment on the ruling once I have more details of the order. I will soon reveal what all the CBI is doing even now. Let them file an appeal, I am ready to fight it out. I am confident that the more they trouble me, the more I will grow politically.”

What was the precedent referred to by the SC?

The PMLA charge, for which Shivakumar spent a month in Delhi’s Tihar Jail in 2019, was brought by the ED on the basis of an allegation that the Congress leader and his associates were part of a criminal conspiracy to evade income tax.

The Supreme Court had, however, ruled in the Pavana Dibbur case last year that PMLA charges require the involvement of a primary crime or scheduled offence, and that the Act cannot be invoked without criminal links to the allegedly laundered funds.

“The offence punishable under Section 120 B of the IPC (criminal conspiracy) will become a scheduled offence only if the conspiracy alleged is of committing an offence which is specifically included in the schedule,” the Supreme Court ruled in November 2023.

A special court in Delhi had taken cognisance of the ED’s PMLA case against Shivakumar in May 2022 to issue summons to the Congress leader by stating that the court was “satisfied that offence under Section 3 of PMLA is made out solely on the basis of Section 120 B of the IPC (criminal conspiracy) being a scheduled offence”.

Has Shivakumar been granted relief in the past?

The relief granted by the Supreme Court on March 5 is the second major instance of relief for Shivakumar in the last five months, in cases brought against him by the Income Tax (I-T) Department, ED and CBI.

Last November, the Congress government in Karnataka had withdrawn the state consent given in 2019 (when the BJP was in power) to the CBI to investigate disproportionate assets allegations against Shivakumar, and subsequently, referred the matter to the Karnataka Lokayukta.

In April 2021, the Karnataka High Court had provided relief to Shivakumar over allegations of tax evasion levelled by I-T authorities by ruling that the mere discovery of unaccounted cash would not amount to tax evasion and penalties.

What are the cases against Shivakumar?

The ED and CBI cases against Shivakumar have their origins in I-T searches in August 2017 at some 70 premises linked to the time he was the Karnataka energy minister. Incidentally, these coincided with a tightly fought Rajya Sabha contest in Gujarat, in which senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel was in the race, with Shivakumar taking up the role of “sheltering” the state’s 42 Congress MLAs ahead of the poll.

Based on the searches in 2017 and the discovery of Rs 8.59 crore in cash at four Delhi properties linked to his associates, the I-T department filed a complaint of tax evasion and false evidence against Shivakumar in 2018.

Shivakumar was investigated by the ED following a preliminary complaint filed in 2018 on the basis of the 2017 I-T investigation.

He was arrested by the ED in September 2019 in connection with a money laundering case and was released on bail in October 2019. A chargesheet was filed in May 2022 after nearly three years of ED investigations.

“There is a legal system in the country. There is the law of the land – there is justice, ethics, truth, and dharma and I have faith in these things. I know I have not done anything wrong and the state knows it and the country knows it,” Shivakumar said after the ED chargesheet in 2022.

In April 2020, shortly after he became the Congress state chief, the CBI registered a corruption case against Shivakumar on the basis of the ED probe alleging the Congress leader amassed Rs 74.93 crore of wealth disproportionate to his sources of income from 2013 to 2018, when he was a state minister.

What are the political implications of the SC relief?

The latest relief granted to Shivakumar is likely to be challenged in the courts by the ED. The I-T department already has pleas pending in the Supreme Court over the dropped tax evasion cases in 2021. The CBI also challenged in the Karnataka High Court the Congress government’s move to withdraw consent for investigating corruption charges against Shivakumar.

The relief in these cases is expected to give Shivakumar a big boost in his efforts to stake claim to be the next Karnataka CM.

The pending cases are seen as hurdles to Shivakumar’s claim to take over from CM Siddaramaiah in 2025, halfway through his five-year term.

Shivakumar’s bid for the CM post is, however, expected to face a stiff challenge from the Siddaramaiah camp. Since Shivakumar was granted relief on March 5, there have been voices in the Congress calling for a Dalit to be the next CM.

Social Welfare Minister H C Mahadevappa, a close associate of Siddaramaiah, said at a recent meeting of Dalit government workers that since the state has never had a Dalit CM, the next CM should be from the community. “We give our support and someone else gets the leadership positions,” the minister said, alluding to the support enjoyed by the Congress from Scheduled Caste communities over the years.

Close allies of Siddaramaiah are also pushing the Congress leadership to appoint various community leaders as deputy CMs alongside Shivakumar, a member of the dominant Vokkaliga community. “What is wrong with seeking the Deputy CM’s post? We have a right to exert pressure since we are also key leaders,” a senior Congress leader and Deputy CM aspirant said.

Shivakumar, whose sights are set on the CM post, is likely to push to field ministers – those with strong community backgrounds in the Siddaramaiah Cabinet and camp – in the Lok Sabha polls this year, a move that reluctant ministers view as an attempt to weaken their standing in state politics.

One of the factors against Shivakumar is his lack of broad-based support across Karnataka, unlike Siddaramaiah, an OBC leader who is backed by minorities.