Minister D.K. Shivakumar cries foul over BJP's graft charges
Bengaluru, Sep 19: Accusing the BJP of trying to destabilise the coalition government in Karnataka, state's Water Resources Minister of the Congress D.K. Shivakumar on Wednesday cried foul over the graft charges levelled by the BJP against him and his party.
"The BJP is trying to destabilise the JD-S-Congress coalition government in the state by levelling baseless charges of corruption and money laundering against me and my party," Shivakumar said.
Reacting hours after BJP spokesman Sambit Patra alleged in Delhi that the Congress and corruption were "synonymous", Shivakumar said he had been cooperating with the Income-Tax (I-T) department and would do so even with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) if it served notice on him in the money laundering case.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had on Tuesday filed a case of money laundering against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. This was based on a chargesheet the I-T department had filed in a special court in Bengaluru early this year involving alleged tax evasion and money laundering worth crores of rupees.
"Unaccounted cash, hawala transactions and corrupt deals are the pillars on which the Congress sits. We now know why the Congress was crying during demonetisation," said Patra at a press conference in New Delhi earlier in the day.
Presenting confessional statements of the three accused to the I-T department in the case pertaining to the recovery of Rs 4 crore from Shivakumar's flats in New Delhi, Patra said the evidence showed Congress's involvement and 'proof of hawala network' that helped money transfer from Karnataka to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in the national capital.
Patra also claimed that the money was transferred to the AICC office not in lakhs or crores but in kilogrammes.
Refuting Patra's allegations, the Minister said he did not do anything illegal or made any mistake and accused the BJP of defaming him and his party.
"Rs 40 lakh was found in my Delhi flat, which my friends and business partners have declared that it belonged to them. Every rupee found has been accounted for," claimed Shivakumar,
Recalling that the I-T sleuths had raided 82 places belonging to him and his friends on August 2, 2017, Shivakumar said the action (raids) was taken on the same day he was hosting the party's legislators from Gujarat at a resort in his (Bengaluru Rural) district.
Asserting that he would face the law, Shivakumar said BJP's state unit president B.S. Yeddyurappa had been charged with corruption.
"Though I have been in the hospital recuperating from food poisoning, I am forced to address the media to refute Patra's allegations against me and my party," added Shivakumar.
Reiterating that the Congress stood by its minister, party's state unit president Dinesh Gundu Rao said the money in Shivakumar's possession was accounted for.
"Minister @DKShivakumar rebuts @BJP4India spokesman #SambitPatra's baseless charges; Reiterates he and his family are tortured because he refused to join BJP," tweeted Rao, adding every single paisa in his possession is accounted for. @INCIndia stands by Shivakumar.
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Jamshedpur man among crew of LPG vessel back from West Asia, family heaves sigh of relief
Jamshedpur (PTI): A family in Jharkhand's Jamshedpur heaved a sigh of relief after learning that the Indian-flagged LPG vessel Shivalik, on which their son was working, had safely reached Gujarat's Mundra port after crossing the Strait of Hormuz amid the conflict in West Asia.
Mithilesh Tripathy said his only son, Ansh Tripathy, who serves as the second engineer on the vessel, was responsible for monitoring the ship's technical operations during the journey through the strategically crucial maritime corridor.
Tripathy said he last spoke to his son over a WhatsApp call about four to five days ago, when the vessel was leaving Qatar.
"They were instructed to maintain a safe distance from the Strait of Hormuz until they received the green signal from headquarters. The Indian government was negotiating with Iranian authorities to ensure safe passage," Tripathy told PTI.
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A former flight engineer with the Indian Air Force, Tripathy later worked at Uranium Corporation of India in Jadugora near Jamshedpur. He now lives in a residential society near Pardih in the city.
Speaking about his son, Tripathy said Ansh completed his schooling in Jamshedpur and Jadugora, pursued mechanical engineering at BIT, and later graduated as a marine engineer from Kochi. He joined the Shipping Corporation of India around 2014-15.
"Before leaving Qatar, Ansh told me they were heading towards the Indian Ocean. That was all he said," he added, noting that he did not discuss the number of crew members on board.
Tripathy said the family remained anxious after hearing about the war in West Asia.
"We were extremely worried about Ansh and the crew members since the war broke out in the region. We were glued to the TV for updates," he said, expressing relief after hearing that the ship had reached Mundra port safely.
"It was a very painful time, but we were confident that if my son and the crew returned safely, it would be due to the efforts of PM Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar," he said.
Tripathy said that while people may hold different views about the tensions in West Asia, his experience in the Air Force helped him understand the realities of operating in a conflict zone.
Two Indian-flagged LPG carriers, Shivalik and Nanda Devi, with 92,712 metric tonnes of LPG, crossed the Strait of Hormuz early on Saturday following negotiations between India and Iran.
Shivalik arrived at the Mundra Port on Monday with 46,000 metric tonnes of LPG ordered by Indian Oil Corp Ltd, officials said.
While 20,000 MT will be unloaded at Mundra, 26,000 MT will be unloaded at Mangaluru, they said.
Nanda Devi is scheduled to reach Gujarat's Kandla port on Tuesday, they added.
These two ships were among the 24 ships stranded on the west side of the strait since the war broke out in the region.
Besides the 24 on the west side of the strait, four others were stranded on the east side.
India imports about 88 per cent of its crude oil, 50 per cent of its natural gas and 60 per cent of its LPG needs. Before the US-Israel strikes on Iran on February 28 and Tehran's retaliation, more than half of India's crude imports, about 30 per cent of gas and 85-90 per cent of LPG imports came from West Asian countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The conflict has led to a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the main transit route for Gulf energy supplies.
