Soon after raids carried out by the Income Tax Department (ITD) on the premises of Karnataka Minister D K Shivakumar had ended, the Congress Party on Saturday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had initiated it to instill a sense of fear.
Speaking to the media in Bengaluru, Congress party MLA Shaktisinh Gohil accompanied by the 43 other MLAs who flew down to Bengaluru from Gujarat last week, painted the IT raids to be a 'misuse of power'.
"D K Shivakumar has been a businessman for 30 years, and has regularly filed tax returns. Three-day continuous raids are unheard of; this is a misuse of power by the BJP. The case being investigated is an old on; why did the IT department wait for us to come and then begin the raids? This has been done by the BJP solely to instill fear," he said, while suggesting raids to be conducted in the office of the BJP Chief Amit Shah.
Earlier, the 44 Congress MLAs currently stationed in Bengaluru attended a meeting with the Governor of Karnataka Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala, in an attempt to 'safegaurd' democratic principles.
"Vajubhai has been a Speaker of the Gujarat Assembly, so he knows each of us personally. He has been an honest individual, who has risen above politics. This is why we chose to meet him, to safeguard our democracy and stand by our principles; not to indulge in dirty politics like the BJP," said Gohil.
"We want to go back as soon as possible, although nothing has been planned yet. We have a meeting scheduled for tomorrow," he added.
Furthermore, Gohil denied reports of MLAs being detained by force and said any attempt by the saffron party to contact Congress party leaders or workers will be recorded hereafter.
"Neither we offer bribes nor accept it. We have notified our party cadets to install CCTVs wherever necessary. Any attempts of the BJP to buy us will be foiled. We will also record calls if required," added Gohil.
Earlier, the Congress accused the BJP of buying and threatening their MLAs in Gujarat for Rs 15 crore and parading its 44 MLAs in Bengaluru.
The Congress had earlier said that the BJP is using "money, muscle and state power" to engineer defection after at least six of its MLAs resigned to join the BJP.
In this backdrop, the Election Commission of India sought an inquiry report from the Chief Secretary of Gujarat over the allegations made by the Congress.