New Delhi: When Karnataka Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar, a frontrunner for the post of the next Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president, was in New Delhi to press his claims for the post before the party’s central leadership, reports emerged about the Enforcement Directorate drawing up plans to summon him afresh for questioning in a money laundering case.
The post of the Karnataka PCC president had fallen vacant after incumbent Dinesh Gundu Rao resigned following the party’s poor performance in the by-elections.
According to a report in the New Indian Express, Shivakumar was in Delhi this past weekend to press for his candidature as the new Congress state unit chief. He decided to meet the senior party leaders as he faced challenges to his candidature, not only from within, but also outside the party.
Within the party, this challenge was posed by senior leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah who earlier controlled politics in the state through his close confidante Gundu Rao. Even when he became chief minister in 2013, Siddaramaiah did not induct Shivakumar into his government for a good six months.
He was also missing from most protests organised by the party against the filing of cases and the arrest of Shivakumar by the Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate.
Though Shivakumar recently met with Siddaramaiah to push his case and gain his support for the post, the latter appears to be more keen on backing the candidature of former minister and Lingayat leader M.B. Patil for the post. Patil is also known to be a Siddaramaiah loyalist.
Also read: SC Dismisses Plea Against Bail to Shivakumar; Asks Govt to Read Dissenting Sabarimala Verdict
Other names now doing the rounds for the post include those of former minister Ramalinga Reddy, former mayor Manjunath Reddy, and five-time MLA from Yamakanmaradi, Satish Jarkiholi.
In such a scenario, Shivakumar was headed to New Delhi when it was learnt that he may have to change his plans because of impending action by the ED.
A report in Deccan Herald said the ED was now likely to issue fresh summons to Shivakumar, who is at present out on bail, to appear before it at its headquarters next week. It said the Congress leader may be questioned around his financial dealings in 2013-14 in connection with which a case of money laundering was registered by the agency in September 2018.
The case was based on a charge sheet (prosecution complaint) filed by the Income Tax Department against Shivakumar and others last year before a special court in Bengaluru on charges of alleged tax evasion and ‘hawala’ transactions. It was claimed by the department that the accused transported a huge amount of unaccounted cash on a regular basis through ‘hawala’ channels.
Meanwhile, the development around the fresh summons comes close on the heels of the Supreme Court adjourning the hearing of a plea by Anjaneya Hanumanthaiah, co-accused of Shivakumar, and others in a money laundering case, to quash 120 B of IPC (criminal conspiracy) slapped by ED.
It was on Monday that the matter came before a bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde. The hearing was adjourned for two weeks as another petition by petitioner was pending in a different bench of the same court.