Karnataka Congress troubles mount: More I-T raids on DK, while MLCs accused of poll fraud

The troubles for the Congress seem to be only increasing by the day in Karnataka, especially in the run-up to Assembly elections that are mere months away in the state.

Wednesday brought two pieces of bad news for the party that now rules only two major states in the country.

The first of these was further income-tax (I-T) raids on embattled leader DK Shivakumar, who had earlier come under the taxman's scanner when Gujarat Congress MLAs were ensconced in one of his own resorts near Bengaluru.

The other was that at least five MLCs of the party used fake information to cast their votes in last year's mayoral elections of Bengaluru.

More trouble for DKS

In the early hours of Wednesday, the income tax sleuths raided properties belonging to DK Shivakumar in New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Chennai. 

As the probe revealed Shivakumar's alleged business transactions with several individuals and firms after the recent raids earlier this month, the I-T officials have conducted search and seizure operations in 10 different locations, The Hindu reported.

The raids were carried out simultaneously in Bengaluru, New Delhi and Chennai. Also,  one of the properties raided belonged to Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee secretary Vijay Mulugund, known to be a close associate of Shivakumar. Sources told The Hindu that the officials were following up the leads unfolded in the investigation.

Early this month, nearly 60 properties linked to Shivakumar and his brother DK Suresh across New Delhi, Bengaluru, Mysuru, Chennai etc were searched. They had raided Eagleton resort on the outskirts of Bengaluru also where over 40 MLAs from Gujarat had stayed.

MLCs fake voter data?

A factual report submitted by BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) to Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) found that eight MLCs including RB Timmapur of the ruling Congress party have submitted wrong data to vote in Bengaluru mayoral election last year.  

The report revealed that the MLCs gave false information to get their names included in Bengaluru electoral rolls. The civic body probed the matter when the Election Commission directed it based on a complaint by Padmanabha Reddy, a BJP leader in the BBMP Council. BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad submitted the report on Tuesday. 

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"Besides, the BBMP report has also found that these MLCs had given false information to the Karnataka Legislative Council to claim lakhs of rupees as travelling allowance by submitting fake bills, as charged by Reddy. Timmapur, Allum Veerabhadrappa, Raghu Achar, N S Boseraju, S Ravi (all Congress), C R Manohar and Appaji Gowda (JD-S) and M D Lakshminarayana (Independent) are the eight MLCs," reported Deccan Herald after getting access to the BBMP report.

With this incident coming to light, the prospect of Timmapur, a strong contender for a ministerial berth, getting inducted in the council of ministers might get affected. He had enrolled as a voter in Bengaluru city limits on August 22, 2016. Post mayoral elections in September the same year, he claimed travel allowance from the Council with Bagalkot as his ordinary address.

Padmanabha Reddy had accused the legislators of misleading the Upper House to claim travel allowance. As per reports, the legislators are alleged to have claimed a total of Rs 37 lakh as allowance. 

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Double whammy for Siddaramaiah?

Siddaramaiah government with 123 MLAs, is less than a year away from assembly elections. The I-T raids on Congress strongman DK Shivakumar and now the MLCs faking data will likely affect the electoral prospects in 2018.

Earlier this month, Siddaramaiah termed the 3-day raids as an attempt to defame the Congress leaders ahead of the 2018 assembly elections while DK Shivakumar pleaded innocence.

"If they have proof and then conduct I-T raids, we have no problem. But knowing that the elections are coming up, they are targeting only Congress leaders to blemish their reputation. This is a political vendetta," Siddaramaiah told media persons.

However, on Wednesday, an I-T official told TNM that they have vetted the documents seized from 60 locations over alleged tax evasion and disproportionate assets.