There will be no embarrassment to party: Shivakumar on FIR against CM
Bengaluru: Karnataka Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar on Friday said that in the event of an FIR being filed against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah there would be no embarrassment to the party.
He said this in response to a question by the media just some time before the Karnataka Lokayukta filed an FIR against CM Siddaramaiah on Friday in connection with the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) case.
Dwelling on the state government’s decision to curb the CBI’s free rein on investigations, he said, “The authority granted to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for unrestricted investigations has been withdrawn to prevent it from becoming a tool for politics of hatred.”
Speaking to the media near his residence in Sadashivanagar on Friday, he explained, “If at any point we feel that our officials are not suitable for investigating serious cases, we will then consider handing them over to the CBI.”
“Everyone knows what former PM Deve Gowda and Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy had to say about the CBI earlier. The BJP themselves once called the CBI the ‘Congress Bureau of Investigation.’ What cases were handed over to the CBI? What happened to those cases? I won’t get into a discussion about the IMA case,” he said.
When asked about allegations that the decision was made to protect Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and to block a CBI investigation, he responded, “Let the Opposition talk. We’ll discuss this at another time.”
Regarding the decision to respond to the Governor’s letters seeking information only after getting Cabinet approval, he said, “Can decisions be made without bringing many issues to the attention of the Chief Minister and the Cabinet? That is why we decided that the Governor’s letter should be answered after obtaining approval from the Cabinet.
“I have some understanding of rules and regulations. While I may not be highly educated or intelligent, I do have awareness. There are rules for everything. Responses to the Governor’s Office must go through the Chief Secretary.”
“A few days ago, a file related to denotification or redoing came to my office. My secretary sent it to me. To that, I replied, ‘I cannot respond to this. As previously decided in the Cabinet, a subcommittee has been formed for such matters. Send it to them,’” he explained.
When asked about the BJP’s allegations of information leaks from Raj Bhavan, he said, “This is an internal matter of the Raj Bhavan. I have no information on this. I also have no information on what is happening in the Lokayukta office.”
When asked if an FIR against the Chief Minister would embarrass the party, he briefly replied, “There will be no embarrassment.”