‘I have done no wrong, Gowda, HDK frustrated’, says DK Shivakumar
17 Nov 2014 2:18 PM IST
Gowda has accused you of favouring NICE
Energy Minister, D.K. Shivakumar. (Photo: DC)
Bengaluru: He may be called rustic and loud, but most agree that that energy minister, D.K. Shivakumar is hard to ignore. Courting controversy is almost second nature to him as is fending off charges of various kinds. He did both in an interview with Deccan Chronicle. Excerpts:
Janata Dal (S) supremo, H.D. Deve Gowda has accused you of favouring NICE when you were a minister in the S.M. Krishna government. Your comment?
He and his son, H.D. Kumaraswamy are making such allegations out of frustration. His other son (H.D. Revanna) was a PWD minister. They would have ordered an investigation and prosecuted me if I had done any wrong. All cases against me are false. I have never held the PWD portfolio to be able to favour NICE. Whatever proposal came to me I forwarded to the minister concerned. My conscience is clear. I did no wrong.
But Mr Deve Gowda is a former Prime Minister, you can’t dismiss his charges easily.
He has a personal vendetta against me because I made Tejaswini contest against him and ensured that he lost. I made sure his son lost elections, his daughter-in-law lost elections and so they are frustrated.
That’s why they are making such baseless allegations. Mr Kumaraswamy has said about 20 times that he will send me behind bars. But he has not been able do anything. You have seen the cases.
They are being dismissed one after another by the courts.
I have already written to the Chief Minister requesting him to order an inquiry into my alleged role in NICE, so the truth can come out. I am confident I will come out clean.
BJP state president, Pralhad Joshi too supports Mr Gowda’s allegations against you.
That’s good. Now the BJP is in power at the Centre. If they want, they can order a CBI investigation.
I welcome it.
Former Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde said that a few ministers in the Siddaramaiah cabinet were prima facie involved in land encroachment and other frauds and they should quit. What is your take on this?
I did not read his comment, so I don’t want to react to it. I still maintain that none of my cabinet colleagues are in the wrong.
Do you think Justice Hegde too is playing into the hands of your rivals?
No. I do not want to say anything about Justice Hegde as he is not a political man at all.
Ministers like Dinesh Gundu Rao, K.J. George, H.S Mahadeve Prasad and Qamarul Islam are facing land encroachment charges. Don’t you feel the Congress has betrayed the people of Karnataka within 18 months of coming to power?
The cases against us all are politically motivated. The BJP is trying hard to somehow destabilise the government. As Karnataka is the only big state that is still with the Congress, the BJP wants to finish us.
Filing of FIRs does not mean the charges are proved. Aren’t there FIRs against R. Ashok, K.S. Eshwarappa and other BJP leaders? It is not a big deal.
Moving on, there are allegations against your solar energy policy, some say those bidding for the project are of dubious character.
The National Informatics Centre, a Central government agency has prepared the website and other e-tools required for e-tendering. It is very transparent. Anybody can check this. We received thousands of e-applications for 500 MW projects. People can check for themselves. If the policy was not good, why would the Centre appreciate it and why do you think many other states are adopting it? We are encouraging people to go in for roof-top solar energy plants and will buy power at Rs 9.56 from them.
What do you have to say about the increasing rapes in the city and the many agitations in the state?
I can say one thing. Our government is strong enough to protect the people. Even in the sexual assault cases, we acted swiftly. The schools need to follow the guidelines issued by the government.
You are a part of the private managements. These schools don't even allow the police and education department officials into their campuses.
No, we are co-operating with the government. All the schools need to follow the guidelines prepared.
Senior IAS and IPS officers are said to be upset with the chief minister, because he doesn’t treat them well in public.
No, I don’t agree with this. We all are from a rural background. We may look rustic from the outside, but we are good at heart and so is the chief minister. We do not intend to hurt anyone.
( Source : dc )
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