Centre behind I-T raids on D K Shivakumar, says CM Siddaramaiah

BENGALURU: In a response to the raids on energy minister D K Shivakumar by Income Tax Department, chief minister Siddaramaiah said the raids were politically motivated and that the Central government was directly behind it.

Siddaramaiah accused BJP of misusing the IT Department for its political ploys."We will not be cowed down by such threats of the Centre," he said.He said IT Department has to take the assistance of the local police to conduct raids.

In this case, however, violating the rules, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were used for the raid, he added.Siddaramaiah said that BJP was using IT raid as a weapon to silence its critics. Such steps are against the ethos of democracy, he said.