Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar, now under the Income Tax Department scanner, is known to have more enemies than friends in politics. However, the reaction of the Opposition parties to the raids on him for the past three days is surprisingly muted. This is attributed to the fear that any belligerent reaction or vociferous demand for his resignation at this juncture may mean antagonising the politically dominant Vokkaliga community to which he belongs.
Both the BJP and the JD(S) seem, as of now, to be wary of being seen as taking down a strongman from the Vokkaliga community. Sources said Vokkaliga leaders within the BJP were concerned over a perceived “dissatisfaction” within the community over the I-T raids on Mr. Shivakumar and were trying to soft-pedal the issue.
‘Yet to take a stand’
In fact, when a Kannada television channel reporter on Friday asked senior BJP leader R. Ashok, also a Vokkaliga, if the Minister should resign, he said the investigation was still on and his party was yet to take a stand. He refused to answer further questions over the issue. This comes a day after BJP leader Tejaswini Gowda held a press conference demanding the Minister’s resignation. Sources said none of the senior Vokkaliga leaders from the party is ready to seek the Minister’s resignation.
This is in sharp contrast to the BJP kicking up a row in the Legislative Assembly demanding the resignation of Small Scale Industries Minister Ramesh L. Jarkiholi following I-T raids on him in January.
A senior BJP leader argued that JD(S) national president H.D. Deve Gowda was still the prominent leader of the community and that Mr. Shivakumar was only a money bag with aggressive muscle power who had earned rivals within the community as well. “The raids are only a continuity of action against money bags after demonetisation and cannot be termed a political move. Such action will only bring down the role of money in elections and is welcome,” he said.
The story is no different in the JD(S) which has a strong presence in the Vokkaliga belt of Old Mysuru region and is even dubbed as a “Vokkaliga party”. Even though Mr. Shivakumar is known to be the arch rival of Mr. Gowda and H.D. Kumaraswamy, arguably the most prominent political leaders of the community, the father and son have been muted in their response. They have had bitter battles with Mr. Shivakumar in Bengaluru Rural, Ramanagagaram and Kanakapura areas.
While Mr. Gowda only made a passing statement noting that “misuse of power is common”, Mr. Kumaraswamy has till date refused to take a stand on the issue. Mr. Gowda said, “Tax raids are a common thing. There were raids on my son as well. Those in power will exercise that. Allegations and counter-allegations are natural under these circumstances.”
Ramesh Babu, JD(S) spokesperson, told The Hindu that the party was against both the BJP and the Congress using Karnataka to pursue their agendas in the elections to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat. “Both the Congress and the BJP are misguiding the people,” he said. He even alleged that Mr. Shivakumar was being “protected” by some BJP leaders because of business interests.
Meanwhile, sources said that attempts were on to get a prominent Vokkaliga seer to lobby with the BJP central leadership to prevent the arrest of the Minister.
