Siddaramaiah & Sitharaman Karnataka battle royal unfolds

ED, Karnataka Police set stage for battle royal in politics

By Manish Anand

New Delhi, October 1: The Congress counts Karnataka for political springboard. The Congress’ political fortune bounced with victory in the Karnataka Assembly elections in 2023.

The Congress-led government in Karnataka now faces an ED test. The Enforcement Directorate has booked Siddaramaiah, a political veteran of Karnataka, in the MUDA scam, involving an allotment of a plot of land.

The ED action came within two days of the Karnataka Police registering an FIR against Union Minister for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman in the “Electoral Bonds scam”. The Congress leader and Opposition leaders’ saviour, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, said that the police FIR against Sitharaman was registered on the order of a special court which examined all the evidence.

Also Read: Congress seeks Sitharaman’s resignation after FIR in Karnataka 

The ED has booked Siddaramaiah in money laundering case. He is the third serving chief minister to be booked in a similar fashion. The ED booked Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi) and Hemant Soren (Jharkhand) previously.

The Congress demanded resignation of Sitharaman. The BJP too demands resignation of Siddaramaiah.

Past precedents give sufficient hints that Siddaramaiah may spend some time in jail on lines of Kejriwal and Soren. The Congress, per party insiders, is determined to back Siddaramaiah.

The Congress is warming up to prospects to end the honeymoon period of parliament’s normal functioning. “We will demand resignation of Sitharaman in the Winter session of parliament,” said Jairam Ramesh in a joint presser with Singhvi. Both the Congress leaders will revisit the Sitharaman FIR case and Siddaramaiah’s booking by the ED in another presser on Tuesday afternoon.

Also Read: Amit Shah in Haryana counters Congress MSP poll plank

Singhvi helped the ED-booked political leaders get bails from the Supreme Court. Kejriwal, Soren, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, K. Kavitha, and others are now back on their respective political turfs after spending considerable time in the Tihar Jail.

Singhvi now is seen as an authority on matters involving the ED. The Congress may possibly not be averse to Karnataka Chief Minister spending a few months in a jail. The Congress can exploit this to spotlight the alleged “electoral bonds scam”.

On the watch of Siddaramaiah, the Karnataka Police FIR in the electoral bonds has Sitharaman as an accused number one while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is accused number three. “The BJP was the principal beneficiary of the electoral bonds scam. Sitharaman was the key instrument,” Singhvi said in the presser last week.

Also Read: Rahul decodes ills of Indian economy — ‘monopoly businesses’ 

An immediate fallout of the MUDA scam case against Siddaramaiah is closing of the ranks of the Congress in Karnataka. The Congress leadership has put to rest chief ministerial ambitions of Siddaramaiah’s possible successors – DK Shivakumar and MB Patil. This denies rerun of ‘Operational Kamala’ of the 2019 fame.

Political observers in New Delhi are closely watching the Assembly elections – Jammu and Kashmir, and Haryana. The outcome of the polls is expected to spotlight ‘Siddaramaiah & Sitharaman’ battle royal.

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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