Kanakapura (Karnataka), Apr 24: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Wednesday said the Income Tax sleuths were raiding the houses of Congress block presidents to defame him and to obstruct them from election campaigning.

“The IT department is conducting raids on Congress party workers deliberately in order to prevent them from election campaigning,” he said in a statement.

Seeking to know whether BJP and JD(S) candidates were not distributing money, Shivakumar, who is also the Congress state president, asked why there were no raids on them.

The IT department is ready with a list of people to target and they are going by that, he claimed.

“They are pressurising contractors to attribute the money found from them to D K Shivakumar. They raided the house of DK Suresh’s driver and manhandled his wife and children during the raid,” the DCM alleged.

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The IT department could not find any cash in any of the raids on our party workers, Shivakumar said, adding this was a deliberate ploy to obstruct the Congress election campaign.

“They (I-T sleuths) are specifically targeting the Bengaluru Rural district fearing election loss,” he added.

Meanwhile, Congress workers staged a protest against I-T raids on Congress MP D K Suresh’s close associate here on Wednesday.

The party workers raised slogans against the BJP for the I-T raids on the house of Gangadhar, a former councilor and an associate of Congress MP D K Suresh.

They accused the BJP government at the Centre of "tying the hands" of the Congress candidate by carrying out an I-T raid on his associates.

“Gangadhar has a lot of land and is wealthy. There are a lot of wealthier people in BJP but no I-T raids are conducted on them. The I-T department is targeting associates of D K Shivakumar and D K Suresh to obstruct their campaigning,” the protesters accused.

IT raids were also carried out at the houses of Gottigere Block Congress President Sridhar, D K Suresh’s personal secretary Sujay, Chandru, Lakshman and Babu, according to sources close to Shivakumar.

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Mumbai, May 5: The BJP has written to the Election Commission of India seeking action against Congress and the opposition leader, Vijay Wadettiwar, for allegedly peddling lies and defaming its Mumbai North Central nominee and ex-26/11 prosecution lawyer Ujjwal Nikam.

Wadettiwar, the leader of the opposition in the Maharashtra legislative assembly, purportedly called Nikam an "anti-national" and accused him of hiding the information that then Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare wasn't killed by Kasab's bullet during the 26/11 terror attack, but fell to a bullet of a policeman affiliated to RSS.

His allegations were based on the book "Who Killed Karkare" written by retired police officer SM Mushriff.

"As a responsible leader, the opposition leader should desist from making such comments that can help the enemy nation," Nikam said.

Terming Wadettiwar's statements as "false and not based on facts", Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shekar claimed they were aimed at defaming Ujjwal Nikam and inciting emotions.

"We have written to the Election Commission of India seeking action against Wadettiwar who is a star campaigner (of Congress) and also against the Congress party for peddling lies," he added.

Shelar further said (Ajmal) Kasab was sentenced to death for killing innocent people after following a due process of law.

Kasab was the lone terrorist who was captured alive by Mumbai Police during the 26/11 terror attack by Pakistani terrorists in which at least 166 people were killed and several others were injured.

Shelar wondered whether Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray supported the statement made by the Congress leader.

A former special public prosecutor, Nikam had represented the state in high-profile cases like the Mumbai serial bomb blasts and the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.

He is making his political foray from Mumbai North Central seat on a BJP ticket and is pitted against city Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad.