ED raids in BBMP an outcome of squabbling in BJP: Deputy CM Shivakumar

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said on Wednesday that the ED searches on the ‘Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’ were the result of BJP infighting.  The ED searched the offices of Engineer-in-Chief B S Prahlad and other BBMP engineers on Tuesday in connection with borewells and Reverse Osmosis plants in regions without Cauvery water connection, according to civic agency sources.

The raids followed a complaint filed by BJP leader and former BBMP Councillor N R Ramesh with the Anti-Corruption Bureau. The ACB eventually submitted the matter to the ED. “It’s an internal fight in the BJP. A BJP leader had given a complaint against his own party MLAs because he was denied a ticket (to contest assembly election),” Shivakumar told reporters here. He said he had instructed the BBMP officials about one and a half years ago to be prepared for the possible raids and provide whatever documents the ED officials would ask for.

“We will work with them. There is nothing wrong with it. I’m not sure of the facts, but policemen told me about it yesterday,” Shivakumar stated.

The Deputy Chief Minister stated that when papers are made available to everyone under the Right to Information Act, ED officers would be granted access to them as well. He also stated that individuals who have done wrongs will be punished. He stated he had no idea of the cancelled dinner gathering sponsored by MLAs from the SC/ST community. Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara announced on Tuesday that the dinner meeting of Congress leaders, ministers, and MPs from the SC/ST community, which was scheduled for January 8, has been postponed due to an instruction from Randeep Singh Surjewala, AICC national secretary in-charge of Karnataka.

The next meeting date will be announced later, Parameshwara said in a statement. The meeting was set just a week after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s dinner with select Dalit and ST Cabinet colleagues, which sparked talk inside the governing Congress about a change of guard in the state after March this year. According to party sources, Deputy Chief Minister and State Congress President D K Shivakumar met with AICC General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal in Delhi to review the latest events.