ED conducts searches at colleges linked to Karnataka Home Minister Parameshwara, CM calls it ‘vengeance politics’

Bengaluru:The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday conducted searches at educational institutions linked to Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara at Tumakuru and on the outskirts of Bengaluru, official sources said.

According to sources, the searches were conducted at Sri Siddhartha Medical College and Sri Siddhartha Institute of Technology in Tumakuru and Sri Siddhartha Institute of Medical Sciences in Nelamangala on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

The reasons for the searches were officially not known.

“Vengeance Politics”

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Congress called it “vengeance politics” against a Dalit leader; while the opposition BJP and JD(S) have tried to link ED searches to the gold smuggling case involving Kannada actress Ranya Rao.

Speaking to reporters here, Siddaramaiah said it is vengeance politics done by the Government of India and ED, because the institutions are run by Parameshwara, who is a tall SC leader and Congress party.

“Yesterday, we had a mammoth gathering at Hosapete to mark the state government’s two years in office. The BJP people were perturbed with the success of the rally in Vijayanagara district’s Hosapete. According to me and my information, it is a revengeful act of ED and central government,” he said.

BJP always targets Dalits, backward classes and Congress people. Has the ED or Income Tax targeted any BJP leader, he asked.

“Are B S Yediyurappa, B Y Vijayendra (of BJP) and H D Kumaraswamy (JDS) honest? Looking at all this it comes across that a Dalit leader is being targeted and it is politically motivated,” he said.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, R Ashoka, trying to link ED searches to the Ranya Rao gold smuggling case, demanded that more strength be given to this probe and all those involved in the gold smuggling case be punished.

“ED is an investigating agency. It has come out from the investigation that Ranya Rao got the gold from abroad and gave it to influential people here. They (ED) might have information about that money earned from it being invested in Siddhartha education institutions. So they are investigating. Let them investigate. Whoever it is, wrong is wrong,” he told reporters.

The JD(S) too, trying to link the ED searches to Ranya Rao’s gold smuggling case, in a post on ‘X’ said, “There was an illegal financial transfer between actress Ranya, who was caught smuggling gold, and the Home Minister’s Siddhartha College. The ED officials are investigating the investments made by Ranya through gold smuggling.”

However, responding to a question about ED searches on Parameshwara’s educational institutions being linked to the Ranya Rao case, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said, “I don’t know. No way is my home minister involved in any such case. He is a decent, simple man…no way is Parameshwara involved in such type of case.”

“What is there to do it (searches) on educational institutions. I don’t have proper information. I get information and react to it,” he said.

AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, Randeep Singh Surjewala, said the ED raids on the educational institutions of Parameshwara, one of the tallest SC leaders, is a frustrated reaction of BJP and Narendra Modi government to the state Congress government giving of property ownership rights to 1 Lakh SC-ST families yesterday at Hosapete.

“The constant assault on the Constitution and leaders of SC/ST and OBC communities across India has become a habitual pattern. The revenge seeking against Parameshwara is part of this sinister design,” he said in a post on ‘X’.

Siddhartha Institute of Technology in Tumakuru, run by Parameshwara, was set up 46 years ago in 1979 and Siddartha Medical College in Tumakuru was set up 28 years ago in 1988 in the rural hinterland of Tumkuru to light the lamp of education, Surjewala said.

He also added, it was indeed surprising that after 46 years of setting up of this institution, the Modi government is searching for wrongdoing, while BJP’s corruption is being actively investigated by the state’s home ministry and Parameshwara.

“The ED raids appear to be a desperate attempt to cover up the corruption of previous BJP governments and stifle the voice of those who champion the voice of the oppressed,” he said.

“Karnataka Congress will carry forward with the five Congress guarantees undeterred and will follow up more rigorously the 6th guarantee of giving ownership of 1 lakh houses to our brothers and sisters of the SC/ST communities. Truth shall win. Satyamev Jayate,” he added.