The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raids on Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D.K. Shivakumar appear to have set the tempo for the ensuing bypolls to two Assembly seats, with the ruling BJP getting ready to launch a counter-attack if the Congress puts the raids on its bypoll agenda.
“If the Congress tries to project the raids as a poll issue, then we will launch an aggressive counter-campaign,” a source in the party said. “We will wait and see the Congress’ campaign style. If they try to use the raids as a political agenda, then we will have to raise questions like from where Mr. Shivakumar got the ₹56 lakh that was recovered during the raids and about the sharp increase in his assets.”
BJP sources said the party would also delve into “history of raids” conducted by the CBI against politicians from the Opposition parties during the Congress regime.
BJP State spokesperson Capt. Ganesh Karnik argued that it was not proper to give a political colour to the CBI raids. Maintaining that the probe agency had autonomy to decide on raids, he claimed that the State and the Centre had nothing to do with the raids. He added that the raids were part of an investigation taken up in 2017 and it was “foolish” to add a political motive to it.
Accusing the Congress of misusing Central agencies such as the CBI when it was in power at the Centre, he said the party was looking at the raids with suspicion because of its own past. He also remarked that the people of the State, including the voters of the two constituencies set to see byelections, would “see through” the Congress’ allegations.
