Central Agencies Misused By BJP For Political Gains, Charges Karnataka CM DK Shivakumar

Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Wednesday launched a fierce counter-offensive against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), dismissing the ongoing Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids against Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Satish Jarkiholi as entirely politically motivated. Addressing media personnel, Shivakumar asserted that the ruling Congress administration remains completely unfazed by the coordinated central agency action. He alleged that the BJP is systematically misusing central investigating agencies to target prominent opposition figures, deliberately timing the crackdown to cause political damage. 

The political storm erupted at dawn when ED teams, under heavy security cover provided by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, launched synchronized search operations across 18 distinct locations in Karnataka and Maharashtra. The sweeping raids directly targeted the residences and business premises of Minister Satish Jarkiholi, his daughter and sitting Chikkodi Lok Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) Priyanka Jarkiholi, and his brother-in-law Y. Manjunath. According to agency officials, the searches are part of a fresh, independent money laundering probe registered under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), focusing on alleged excise department irregularities and suspected illegal overseas investments in an African mining firm. 

Defending his cabinet colleague, Chief Minister Shivakumar emphasised that Jarkiholi is a highly respected, "clean," and progressive Dalit leader whose public life and commercial activities are completely transparent. "The ED raids against him are not something we are unaware of. ED raids have been conducted in the past as well. He is a senior minister and is involved in business and commercial activities," Shivakumar told reporters. The Chief Minister also accused the central ruling party of strategically timing the latest search operations to coincide with a major political milestone, pointing out that the raids were executed precisely a day before his government completes 100 days in office. 

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The Congress leadership further alleged a malicious pattern of selective targeting by the central government, claiming that the BJP is actively trying to suppress the rise of prominent Dalit leaders within the state. Shivakumar stated that after previously hounding former minister B. Nagendra, central agencies are now training their sights on Jarkiholi and IT-BT Minister Priyank Kharge to systematically demoralize the ruling coalition. State Congress leaders staged public protests across multiple districts, questioning whether the ED had secured the necessary mandatory clearances from the Lok Sabha Speaker before entering the official residence of Member of Parliament Priyanka Jarkiholi. 

The Jarkiholi family, which commands immense political and financial clout across northern Karnataka through expansive sugar and liquor industries, has maintained that they will fully cooperate with the ongoing legal scrutiny. The ED countered the political vendetta narrative by clarifying that this operation stems from separate financial trails uncovered during a previous June raid on Jarkiholi's brother-in-law, Y. Manjunath, an Additional Commissioner of Excise. As political friction intensifies across Bengaluru, the Congress high command has instructed its regional cadres to remain calm, reaffirming their total solidarity with Jarkiholi and vowing to fight the legal battle out in the courts. 

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