Ballari MLA Nara Bharath Reddy’s residence in Ballari that was raided by Enforcement Directorate sleuths on Saturday. | Photo Credit: SRIDHAR KAVALI
Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths on Saturday conducted simultaneous raids on as many as six places connected to Ballari City MLA and Congress leader Nara Bharath Reddy.
The residences of Mr. Reddy and his uncle Pratap Reddy at Nehru Colony in the city, his father and former legislator Suryanarayana Reddy’s office in Gandhi Nagar and the residences of his close associate Ratna Babu and his relative Anil were among the premises that officials raided at around 6.30 in the morning.
Around 20 officials who arrived in seven vehicles with Central Reserve Police Force personnel from Bengaluru early in the morning began the search operations by 6.30 am. The local police were not informed about the raids.
Before the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) was enforced for the last Assembly elections, Mr. Reddy, a strong contender for Congress ticket to contest the elections from the Ballari City segment, had distributed cookers to the people to celebrate his birthday. Mr. Reddy’s family is engaged in granite mining business in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
Mr. Pratap Reddy is preparing to contest the Legislative Council elections from North East Graduates constituency. He had contested the elections on Janata Dal (Secular) ticket and lost in the last MLC elections by a thin margin.
“It is a blatant misuse of power by the BJP-led Union government. Nara Bharath Reddy has rapidly grown in politics and emerged as a youth icon in Kalyana Karnataka. His massive victory in the last Assembly elections with the highest margin of votes showed his strength. BJP is afraid of his influence in and around Ballari and sees him as a threat. That is why the BJP-led Union government is attempting to suppress him before the Lok Sabha elections,” M. Prabhanjan Kumar, a Congress leader and Corporator of Ballari City Municipal Council, told The Hindu.
Responding to the raids on the premises linked to his MLA, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge sarcastically said that Central Bureau of Investigation, Income Tax Department and Enforcement Directorate were the star campaigners for BJP in the elections.
“BJP doesn’t face the election directly. They unleashed the attack against their political rivals through these Central agencies before going for the elections. 99% of the raids conducted during the BJP regime are against the Opposition leaders. These agencies could not prove their charges in any case. We are not afraid of any such action. We are prepared to face them,” Mr. Priyank told media representatives in Kalaburagi.
