MYSURU: Former Congress MP R Dhruvanarayana on Thursday accused the Centre of misusing autonomous agencies like Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to threaten their political opponents.
With reference to the arrest of former minister Vinay Kulkarni, the former MP claimed CBI officials have become puppets in the hands of the government by functioning according to their whims and fancies.
Autonomous agencies like CBI, Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate are being used for political gains and to target political opponents, which is absolutely shameful on the part of the government. “We, the party, have full faith in Kulkarni. He isn’t involved in any such incident. Let a fair investigation be carried out on allegations in a lawful manner instead of pressuring autonomous agencies to threaten opponents,” he said.
“KPCC chief DK Shivakumar was threatened similarly. He was asked to join BJPx, but when he resisted their bid he was raided again. Now Vinay Kulkarni is targeted just because he was with Shivakumar,” he added.
Dhruvanarayan said Congress will romp home easily in both RR Nagar and Sira byelection. Yathindra Siddaramaiah, Varun MLA, claimed there is a neck-and-neck-race between Congress and BJP in RR Nagar byelection.