Hours after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested senior Congress leader DK Shivakumar in a money laundering case on Tuesday, 3 September, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said the arrest doesn’t bring him any joy.
While the Congress party went on an offensive, calling the arrest political vendetta by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), talking to reporters outside his house on Tuesday, Yediyurappa said:
“Let me tell you one thing, the arrest of DK Shivakumar did not bring me any happiness. I will pray to god that he is out soon.”
The CM added that he doesn’t mean harm to anyone, and he will be happy if Shivakumar is released.
“I haven’t hated anyone in my life and haven’t mean to harm anyone. Justice will have to take its own course. If he is released, I will be happier than anyone.”
The former Cabinet minister had appeared before the agency for the fourth time for questioning on Tuesday before he was taken into custody for not cooperating with the probe. The ED will produce Shivakumar in a Delhi court on Wednesday to seek his custody.
Congress leaders in Karnataka have also cried foul, saying Shivakumar is a victim of vendetta politics, a charge rejected by BJP leaders.
All India Congress Committee General Secretary KC Venugopal, in a statement, called the arrest “a clear case of political vendetta by the fascist BJP government at the Centre.”
"It is evident that the government is desperately trying to hide its outright failure in checking the economic slowdown and financial crisis with shameless harassment of political opponents."KC Venugopal, General Secretary, All India Congress Committee
Apart from Yediyurappa, no other senior BJP leader has made a statement on the arrest of the Congress leader.
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