Bengaluru: Karnataka Minister for Agriculture Chaluvarayaswamy on Sunday alleged Union Minister for Large Scale Industries and Steel H.D. Kumaraswamy collected money to a tune of Rs 1,000 crore from various steel manufacturing units to raise funds for nominees of Bharatiya Janata Party led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) contesting in Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and by-elections in 3 Assembly segments of Karnataka.
In collecting funds for the elections, the Karnataka Minister alleged Kumaraswamy took the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Kumaraswamy, a former Chief Minister and State president of Janata Dal Secular (JDS), represents Mandya Lok Sabha seat in Karnataka while Chaluvarayaswamy, represents Nagamangala Assembly seat and he is the Mandya District incharge minister.
The money collected by Kumaraswswamy is not only to fund NDA nominees in Maharashtra and Jharkhand but also for NDA nominees in the fray for Sandur and Channapatna by-polls. In Channapatna, Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil is in the fray as NDA nominee and he is against Congress nominee C.P. Yogeshwar.
The BJP and its allies have become desperate to win elections by any means including adopting wrong means to win elections, he alleged and stated owing to fear of losing elections, BJP and its allies have decided to woo voters through distributing huge quantities of cash in the elections.
He alleged Kumaraswamy collected money from various steel manufacturing units by taking the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and accused Kumaraswamy of indulging in collecting money from mine owners in Karnataka in the past as well. Ever since, JDS led by Kumaraswamy became part of BJP led NDA, Chaluvarayaswamy alleged BJP has been going slow on the investigations related to Kumaraswamy’s alleged kickbacks of the past.
At a press conference in Bengaluru, Chaluvarayaswamy stated “I have received information about Kumaraswamy collecting Rs 1,000 crore from insiders known to me. Therefore, I demand sleuths of Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax officials to investigate these allegations and initiate suitable action against Kumaraswamy (if found guilty).”
The Minister also asked the Election Commission of India to take cognisance of the allegations against the Union Minister.
