"Vendetta Of Worst Kind": Karnataka Congress On DK Shivakumar's Grilling

The Congress's troubleshooter in Karnataka, DK Shivakumar, is being questioned for the fourth day by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged money laundering case in Delhi. Mr Shivakumar, a former minister, was summoned to the national capital on Thursday last after the Karnataka High Court decided against the dismissal of the case and did not give him protection from arrest.

Mr Shivakumar flew to Delhi the next day, asserting that as the son of Kempe Gowda, he was not the kind of man to run and hide.

Questioning went on till late on Friday night, through Saturday and continued on Monday after a break on Sunday. The Monday questioning was a sore point - it was Ganesh Chaturthi - and Mr Shivakumar became emotional while talking to reporters in Delhi about it.

"I have not been able to perform puja for my father. I would celebrate Ganesh Puja with my children, but they did not allow me to do so," he said.

Mr Shivakumar has been getting some sympathy for his situation from Congress and Janata Dal Secular leaders, who feel he is being victimised because he is from the Congress. Former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy of the JDS tweeted.

Gowri Ganesha is an important festival for Hindus. Mr. @DKShivakumar had asked for a day to observe the festival. However, ED officials denied him even this. If this is not vindictive attitude, then what is?

— H D Kumaraswamy (@hd_kumaraswamy) September 1, 2019

"Vindictive politics has become the order of the day. Opposition leaders are easy victims of power misuse. In public life, we need to be strong to face baseless allegations and conspiracies. I am sure DK Shivakumar is strong enough to face this vindictive agenda against him."

The Congress and the JDS had formed a coalition government in Karnataka in May 2018 after the assembly elections failed to give any one party a majority. This government lost power in July to the BJP after losing a trust vote. There has been a strain in this coalition after the Gowda family and former chief minister of the Congress, Siddaramaiah, exchanged criticisms. But the tweets of Mr Kumaraswamy show there is still some fellow feeling between the parties.

The Congress in Karnataka tweeted:

. @DKShivakumar grilling by ED is vendetta of the worst kind

What happened to cases against MukulRoy, HB Sharma & others who joined @BJP4India

Is joining BJP the criteria for ED-CBI to target people? We condemn this bias from the enforcement agencies.

There is no law of land

— Karnataka Congress (@INCKarnataka) September 3, 2019

The Congress's state in-charge KC Venugopal tweeted:

The BJP Government has made CBI & ED as political vendetta agencies to carry out harassment against @DKShivakumar on a daily basis. This disgraceful misuse of power and harassment have to be condemned.

— K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) September 1, 2019

Congress leaders visited Mr Shivakumar at Karnataka Bhavan in Delhi, where he is staying. Mr Shivakumar's brother, DK Suresh, who is the only Congress MP from Karnataka, came to Delhi with him.