Karnataka state Congress president D.K. Shivakumar on Friday alleged a BJP “conspiracy” to get his nomination rejected just hours before the Election Commission allowed him to contest the upcoming Assembly polls, ending the suspense over whether he would be able to enter the fray.
A day after he rushed his younger brother and Lok Sabha member D.K. Suresh to file nomination papers as a backup from the Kanakapura Assembly constituency, Shivakumar told the media at the party office here that a “big conspiracy” was on against him.
“Suresh has also filed nomination as a big conspiracy is going on,” he said without elaborating.
The Congress party heaved a sigh of relief after the returning officer accepted Shivakumar’s nomination papers, which had come under a cloud since Thursday when the party hurried Suresh to enter the fray in a last-minute backup plan to ensure the party has a candidate in case Shivakumar’s nomination was rejected.
Two of Shivakumar’s lawyers had rushed to meet the returning officer of the Kanakapura constituency on Friday morning, leading to speculation about the validity of his nomination papers.
Karnataka High Court’s decision on Thursday to uphold the state government’s sanction to the CBI to investigate corruption charges against Shivakumar was another cause for concern.
One of the two Congress heavyweights — the other being P.C. Siddaramaiah — Shivakumar belongs to the Vokkaliga community and wields considerable clout among his community apart from the state’s youth.
“A large number of people have downloaded my affidavit. There is pressure on the officials. I want to be very cautious on this issue,” Shivakumar alleged.
But BJP leader Chalavadi Narayanaswamy slammed Shivakumar for dragging his party into the issue.
“You have been a lawmaker four or five times and you should know how to fill up the nomination forms. Does the Election Commission belong to our father for him to accuse the BJP of trying to scuttle his nomination?” Narayanaswamy said.
Shivakumar said he was well aware of filling up nomination forms. “I know how to fill up my nomination papers and affidavit. All my papers are transparent,” he said, adding all matters pending with the income tax department, Enforcement Directorate, Lokayukta and the CBIhave been included in the affidavit.
Alleging harassment by various agencies ahead of the polls, Shivakumar said: “They are harassing me. I have been receiving notices, including (one) from Chennai (income tax department). Chennai is in no way connected to me, but notices are being given from the income tax department to appear in person.”
The principal troubleshooter of the Congress party, Shivakumar had spent 52 days in Tihar jail after being arrested in a money-laundering case by the ED in 2019.
The seven-time MLA was booked for offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and arrested on September 3, 2019, just months after the BJP came to power by engineering defections and destabilising the Janata Dal Secular-Congress coalition.
Trouble began for Shivakumar in August 2017 when the party placed him in charge of preventing 44 Congress MLAs from Gujarat from being poached by the BJP ahead of a crucial Rajya Sabha election in which the party had fielded senior leader Ahmed Patel.
Shivakumar had got the 44 MLAs sequestered at a holiday resort, some 50km from here, by cordoning off the entire premises and keeping the lawmakers out of reach.
The tax authorities had then searched his home and office for three days when they reportedly unearthed incriminating details about money laundering that landed him in trouble.
