Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Home Minister G Parameshwara have refuted Opposition leaders’ allegations that the Congress government was using its intelligence department to keep tabs on its own legislators—including phone tapping—in the wake of a power struggle between the CM and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.
“After our party came to power, unemployed Opposition leaders are trying to sour the relationship between me and D K Shivakumar. Let them know that their sourness will not have any effect on our good relationship,” Siddaramaiah said in a statement on Monday.
The remark came in the wake of Opposition leader and Union minister H D Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal (Secular) and BJP leader R Ashok referring to a local news report on Siddaramaiah allegedly asking the state intelligence department—which falls under his purview—to keep tabs on Congress legislators in the wake of the growing factionalism in the party and a strong push by Shivakumar to gain power.
The report alleged that the move came in the backdrop of MLAs allied with Shivakumar planning meetings and tours to demonstrate his support base among 136 Congress MLAs to the party leadership.
“The allegations by Opposition leader R Ashok and Union minister H D Kumaraswamy that the phones are being tapped in order to spy on Deputy CM D K Shivakumar are like the proverb, ‘A thief himself distrusts others’. This is a desperate statement,” Siddaramaiah said.
The media reports came after a group of 18 MLAs, who are supporters of Shivakumar, gathered for a dinner meeting on February 26 to ostensibly celebrate the birthday of MLA H C Balakrishna at a five-star hotel in Bengaluru and proposed a tour by around 40 MLAs after or during the state budget session next week.
The meeting took place last week after a dozen MLAs allied with Siddaramaiah went on a foreign tour earlier in February.
Story continues below this ad
“None of our MLAs are supporters of me or D K Shivakumar, they are all supporters of the Congress party. They have all the freedom to express their opinions individually and have meals together within the framework of party discipline. But no matter what any MLA says, ultimately, we all bow to the orders of our party high command. We have both said this a 100 times. This is the ultimate truth,” Siddaramaiah said on Monday.
“If the BJP and JD(S) leaders have any intention of wooing Shivakumar by spreading false news and spoiling our relationship, I wish them all the best in their daydreaming. Shivakumar is a staunch Congressman; the BJP is making all efforts to subdue him by filing false cases and sending him to jail,” Siddaramaiah added.
“In 2018, H D Kumaraswamy, when he was the chief minister, was accused by his current political partner, B Y Vijayendra, of phone-tapping the seer Nirmalanandanath Swami of Adichunchanagiri. The CBI, which investigated the matter, had said that the phones of not just one Swamiji, but seven Swamijis were tapped,” he pointed out.
‘Who told them? No such developments’
Parameshwara also rejected claims that the chief minister was using the state intelligence department to keep tabs on the Shivakumar camp.
Story continues below this ad
“We are the ones running the government. We have more information than them. Who told them? Did the intelligence department inform them? We run the government, and we have information on various matters. There are no such developments,” Parameshwara said.
The home minister, however, stated that the state political intelligence wing shares information on developments on the political front with Siddaramaiah on a daily basis. “There is no need to tap phones to gather and share information; such things are not happening,” he said.
“During the tenure of all chief ministers, the political intelligence wing has existed… what information is sought is left to the discretion of the chief minister,” Parameshwara said.
Kumaraswamy hints at ‘daggers drawn behind the scenes’
Ashok, the leader of the Opposition in the state Legislative Assembly, had earlier flagged the news reports to say on social media that the state intelligence “has a new full-time job – tracking dinner attendance of Dy CM D K Shivakumar’s faction?”
Story continues below this ad
“Drug factories run unchecked, communal tensions rise. Law & order weakens. But (what is) the top priority of this government? Counting MLAs and shadowing political rivals. This is the complete politicisation of administration under CM Siddaramaiah,” he said.
In a reaction to Siddaramaiah’s denial of the allegations, Kumaraswamy said on Tuesday that phone-tapping was a Congress invention. “It is the media that has been speaking about phone-tapping. I merely responded. Observing your elaborate narratives, one is compelled to conclude that you display greater enthusiasm for targeting others than for administering the state,” Kumaraswamy said.
“Your internal frictions do not concern us. But the simmering volcano of resentment within you has erupted on public platforms more than once. The people of this state are not unaware of smiles exchanged in public and daggers drawn behind the scenes. May your friendship endure and may you honour your commitments to your associate,” he stated.
