Bengaluru: In a startling statement on Wednesday, Karnataka’s Water Resources Minister MB Patil has said he expects to be raided by the Income Tax department ahead of the Assembly polls.
“Anybody who challenges the stance of the BJP, performs thru development,& counters the BJP ‘strongly,’ becomes a target driven by vengeance from institutions under the Big-Brother/ Saheb government (sic),” he said on social media.
Anybody who challenges the stance of BJP, performs thru development, & counters the BJP 'strongly', becomes a target driven by vengeance from institutions under the "Big Brother/Saheb" Govt.@INCKarnataka @INCIndia @srivatsayb @RLR_BTM @dineshgrao @DrParameshwara @siddaramaiah https://t.co/XxGIsFuVf8— M B Patil (@reachmbp) March 21, 2018
Patil has also been at the forefront of the Lingayat separate religion agitation the last few months.
This comes a day after senior Congress leaders from Karnataka submitted a petition to the Election Commission, seeking help to counter the “misuse” of the Income Tax and other Central government agencies against leaders opposing BJP.
The petition, signed by top leaders, including working president Dinesh Gundu Rao, Ministers and MLCs.
“The raids follow a pattern reinforcing the fact that the BJP government is blatantly and actively misusing Union Government machinery ... (especially) in States that are close to elections,” the petition stated.
They alleged that the I-T department is selectively leaking out information to the media so that party functionaries are targeted. The petition wanted the EC to direct officials of enforcement agencies like the I-T department, ED and CBI to not act illegally at the behest of the Centre and even sought the transfer of the Director General of Income Tax (Investigations) in Karnataka.
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