New Delhi [India], October 28 (ANI): In a blistering attack, Union Minister and JD(S) State President HD Kumaraswamy on Wednesday alleged that AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge and his son, Home Minister Priyank Kharge, have hatched a conspiracy to ruin the image of former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the name of a sting operation against him.
Addressing a press conference in the national capital, Kumaraswamy said the Kharge family is settling an old family grudge that Siddaramaiah was responsible for Mallikarjun Kharge missing the Chief Minister's post in the past.
"Minister Priyank Kharge's real intention is not to finish Kumaraswamy, but to ruin Siddaramaiah's image. Weaving this case in Kumaraswamy's name and finally trapping Siddaramaiah himself is the internal conspiracy hatched by the Kharge family along with the present CM," Kumaraswamy alleged.
He cited media reports that when CCB officers went to the former CM for an explanation on the sting, they were lashed out at. He said Siddaramaiah himself is angry about the direction of the investigation.
Kumaraswamy alleged that the main mastermind behind the entire sting conspiracy is a woman Congress leader who was appointed as chairperson of the Women and Child Rights Protection Committee in June 2015 during Siddaramaiah's own government.
He questioned claiming why there is no investigation into the 2023 incident where, using one young woman, another woman was made to sit and trap a private channel person and record video, and why the person who admitted to shooting the video is roaming free with government protection to spread fake news through an illegal channel.
Giving a message to JDS workers, Kumaraswamy said, "JDS workers need not fear. Do not be afraid of police officers who are harassing you. Note down the names of officers acting illegally at your homes by bowing to political pressure. Time will answer them."
"The current CM repeatedly says time will answer everything. Our time will also come. That time will answer such officers and politicians. Whether they are in service or retired at home, they will have to pay the price for acting beyond the law," he said.
He said 2-3 honest officers have already walked out of the investigation team, saying they cannot participate in this unjust and premeditated probe, and only a specific group of officers who listen to them are being used to stage an investigation drama.
He said Congress' defeat in all four Legislative Council seats is the answer to Home Minister Priyank Kharge's maladministration and for making the police department a puppet.
Kumaraswamy made serious allegations about police atrocities on JDS war room worker Mohan Gowda's family.
"Police entered Mohan Gowda's house in his absence under the pretext of a search warrant, inhumanly assaulted his wife, pushed her and forcibly snatched her mobile even when she said she would give it after consulting a lawyer. I have seen the visuals," he said.
He said police then registered a false FIR overnight accusing the woman of stealing a police officer's chain which had fallen during the scuffle, even though JDS workers honestly handed over the chain to Byadarahalli police station next morning. He said character assassination of a respectable family was done by planting 'chain theft by woman' stories in papers and TVs, and warned the woman officer will have to repent.
Kumaraswamy said he knows how the police helped cover up the mysterious death of Power TV employee Vicky (Vikas), who fell from the fourth floor 1 year and 3 months ago.
"Did Vicky fall on his own into the lift shaft from the fourth floor, or was he pushed? How did nothing happen to another person with him? The footage was edited and concocted stories were broadcast. There must be an impartial probe. I will not leave this case here," he said.
He ended by saying, "I have done no wrong. No one can silence Kumaraswamy's voice. An invisible divine power that protects truth and dharma is behind us. The time to permanently shut the mouths of opponents will come soon." (ANI)
"Mallikarjun Kharge's family conspiring to ruin Siddaramaiah's image," alleges HD Kumaraswamy
