Bengaluru: Former Chief Minister and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy accused Deputy Chief Minister (DCM) C N Ashwath Narayan of being the “kingpin” of the infamous Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) head office fire in 2011.
The incident is said to have resulted in the loss of several important files that incriminated top political leaders in a multi-crore scam with contractors. The case was being investigated by the Bengaluru Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF), which is a probe agency assigned to deal with such matters.
Earlier, DCM Narayan had said that Congress MLA D K Shivakumar’s arrest was a consequence of his indulgence in corruption.
In retaliation, Kumaraswamy said, “The DCM has spoken of building a ‘new India’. These people, do we not know who they are? Is he not one of the kingpins who set fire to the BBMP files inside the Palike headquarters?”
Calling Shivakumar’s arrest “vendetta politics”, Kumaraswamy further said, “Several bureaucrats including N Vittal, who retired as the Chief Vigilance Commissioner, have recorded how successive governments used the ED and IT to harass opponents.”
Several Congress and JD(S) leaders have defended Shivakumar since his arrest by ED officials on Tuesday night.
Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said, “They (BJP) are under the impression that by arresting Congress leaders, the cadre and its party will be weakened. Shivakumar made himself available every time the ED summoned him, so why this arrest? Was he planning to fly abroad or was he hiding?”
Former chief ministers M Veerappa Moily and Siddaramaiah have also made similar criticisms of Shivakumar’s arrest, calling it “politically motivated”.
Meanwhile, DCM Govind Karjol pushed back against allegations of the BJP’s involvement in the arrest and sarcastically retorted saying that he too “was praying” for the Congress leader to emerge unscathed.
