Bengaluru: Hours after BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra's press conference against Karnataka Water Resources minister DK Shivakumar on the Income Tax searches and findings, the Congress strongman hit back at the BJP daring them to send him to jail.
Shivakumar thanked Sambit Patra and the central government for revealing the truth that they are behind the raids against him.
"I am not a fool or a coward to run away. I am a law abiding citizen and I know the law of the land. I will face any consequences and will never turn back. The BJP is trying to defame my reputation, spoil my political career. But it is a dream. They can't do anything to me or to my Congress party. I am a party loyalist and I will not yield to any political pressures," Shivakumar thundered.
After the ED charged him on Tuesday, Shivakumar was admitted to a city hospital for food poisoning. He is not yet discharged, but came out to hit back at BJP spokesman. Soon after the media interaction, he returned to hospital for further treatment.
He made serious allegations against the BJP and the central government for allegedly misusing the autonomous institutions like Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax Department.
He even alleged that the "BJP is arm-twisting the judiciary”. He said, "The BJP leaders are acting like judges and the supreme authority. How can BS Yeddyurappa say that he will send me behind bars within two days? Who is he by the way? He had taken kickback from an infrastructure building company through cheque to the tune of Rs 1 crore. It is there everywhere in the records and the courts."
Earlier today former Chief Minister Yeddyurappa at a party legislators' meet had said that Shivakumar would be jailed within two days and the BJP would form the government in the state.
Shivakumar further said that he was pressurised by the BJP leaders, threatened and tortured. "When Income Tax Department officials raided my houses and office premises my whole family and friends were subjected to mental torture. But we are strong and we don't bow our head to political vendetta. I-T sleuths have conducted searches in 82 places across the country, that too when I was accommodating Gujrat Congress in a resort falling under my district jurisdiction. Don't you think it is a politically motivated search?" he added.
DK Shivakumar is known as trouble shooter and on many occasions he has help shield Congress legislators from being poached.
On a question about BJP forming the government in Karnataka, Shivakumar said it is never going to happen. "BS Yeddyurappa is a day dreamer. His dream of toppling the Congress-JDS coalition government and getting back to power will never come true. People of India are observing all the developments across the country. They will answer the BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha polls," he added.
The BJP is accusing him of money laundering. Reacting to the charge, he said, out of the money which I-T department found at his place only Rs 41 Lakh belongs to him and he has already furnished documents pertaining to the liquid cash. "Few of the witnesses are tortured to give statement against me. Poor bureaucrats, they are being misused and few of them expressed the pressure they are getting from the top brass. The BJP is trying to manipulate my case; I will come out clean," he said.
Gritty minister concluded his press meet saying "Nobody and nothing is permanent in politics. The time will come for me to answer each of them."
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