Siddaramaiah, Kumaraswamy booked for sedition over protest against I-T raids
Bengaluru: Police have booked former chief ministers Siddaramaiah and H D Kumaraswamy along with the then Bengaluru police commissioner T Sunil Kumar, his subordinates and some Congress and JD(S) leaders on sedition charges for protesting the income tax raids during Lok Sabha polls.
Based on a complaint by activist Mallikarjuna A, a city court recently directed the commercial street police to register a case under various sections of the IPC including criminal conspiracy and attempting or abetting waging war against the Government of India, police said. The case relates to protests near the I-T office here by the leaders including the then Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy against the Income Tax raids at the residence of Congress and JD(S) leaders.
The charges are that Kumaraswamy had informed public about the possible raids after getting inputs about the action. Kumaraswamy had told the media on March 27 that there was every likelihood of raids as a large number of central security forces had arrived at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA).
His apprehensions came true the next day as the forces fanned out to different parts of the state. Later, a massive demonstration was conducted at the Income Tax office.
Other prominent people, who have been booked, include then deputy chief minister G Parameshwara, D K Shivakumar, Congress state chief Dinesh Gundu Rao, the then deputy commissioners of police Rahul Kumar, D Devaraju and all election officers.
Reacting to the sedition charges, D K Shivakumar said all the cases were politically motivated and he will fight it politically.
" We did not enter the income tax office. We stood 150 metres away and raised slogans," he added.
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Fully confident of winning bypolls to 2 Assembly constituencies in Karnataka: CM Siddaramaiah
Davangere (Karnataka) (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday asserted that he was one hundred per cent confident that Congress will win by-polls to two Assembly Constituencies in the state, claiming the BJP will face defeat, similar to what they experienced in earlier byelections.
He also played down the disgruntlement among the other ticket aspirants in the Congress, saying that everyone will be convinced and come together to ensure the party's victory.
Bypolls for the Bagalkot and Davanagere South Assembly constituencies will be held on April 9. The polls were necessitated following the deaths of senior Congress MLAs H Y Meti and Shamanur Shivashankarappa, respectively.
"I'm one hundred per cent confident that we will win both seats. BJP may claim that they will win, but where have they won? They had made similar claims in the previous bypolls, didn't we defeat sons of former CMs Basavaraj Bommai and H D Kumaraswamy?" Siddaramaiah asked in response to a question.
Speaking to reporters here, he said the BJP may claim things, but the Congress government has fulfilled its promises and walked the talk by implementing five guarantee schemes.
"People of the state are in our (Congress) favour. We have proved it in the previous byelections. People, including Dalits, backward class people, poor, farmers and minorities -- all of them are with us," he added.
When questioned about claims by some BJP leaders that the bypoll results would indicate the outcome of the 2028 Assembly polls in the state, the CM asked, "When they won't win, what indicator is that?"
"We are in power, we won three by-elections earlier, and I'm confident that we will win these by-elections too," he added.
Congress in November 2024 had swept the by-polls to three Assembly constituencies -- Sandur, Shiggaon and Channapatna.
Responding to a question, Siddaramaiah claimed that the BJP will face defeat in all four states -- Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and the union territory of Puducherry -- which are going for polls.
After several rounds of discussion amid stiff competition for the party tickets, Congress on Sunday announced Umesh Meti and Samarth Mallikarjun as the party candidates for Assembly by-polls to Bagalkot and Davangere South assembly constituencies, respectively.
The Congress gave tickets to family members of the late legislators in both constituencies. While Umesh Meti is the son of H Y Meti, Samarth Mallikarjun is the grandson of Shamanur Shivashankarappa.
Expressing confidence that the disgruntlement within the party, following candidate selection, especially in the Davangere South constituency, will be resolved, the CM said, adding that the candidate selection was a unanimous decision by the party.
Pointing out that ticket aspirant Sadiq Pailwan has announced he will contest as a rebel in Davangere South, he said, "We will try and convince him."
When asked whether Muslims would be compensated, Siddaramaiah said, "Nothing has been discussed, but we will try to give representation to minorities."
There was a strong demand from Muslims for the Davangere South ticket, as the community has a significant presence in the constituency. Some factions within Congress had opposed giving the ticket to the Shamanur family.
