A day after Income Tax (I-T) sleuths raided the Eagleton Resort in Bengaluru, where Congress legislators from Gujarat are lodged, two MLAs alleged that the I-T officials asked some MLAs to leave the resort and return to Gujarat.
“Two of our members were told by I-T officials to leave the resort and return to Gujarat immediately,” Congress legislators Paresh Dhanani and Mohammad Javed Pirzada claimed, adding that the I-T officials were more concerned about why the legislators from Gujarat were staying in the resort.
“As soon as the I-T team reached the resort, they took hold of the reception counter and asked the staff about guests staying in the rooms, who was paying for them, and who had done the booking for them,” Mr. Dhanani said, alleging that on the pretext of the raid on Shivakumar, the main purpose of the raid was to scare away MLAs and force them to return Gujarat so that the BJP could poach them.
Muscle power
“The way the BJP government has created an atmosphere of fear in Gujarat using State machinery, the Central government tried to do the same in the resort using the I-T establishment,” Mr. Dhanani added, stressing that all legislators of the party were united and would not submit to the the BJP’s money and muscle power.
He also brushed aside all speculation that some MLAs desired to return to their home. “BJP leaders have become frustrated after we moved our members here, escaping their dirty tricks, and therefore they have been spreading rumours that our MLAs want to go back.”
On Thursday, Karnataka Congress President G. Parameshwara had a meeting with all legislators to assure them that despite the I-T raids, the State Congress leadership was with the party MLAs from Gujarat.
Meanwhile, two Congress leaders from Gujarat, including a legislator Joitabhai Patel, were taken to hospital after they fell ill.