“They (BJP) have made me stronger… there is no question of weakening, no question of surrendering. I will fight,” said Karnataka Congress leader DK Shivakumar, while talking in Bengaluru on Saturday, 26 October.
Sporting a thick beard, DK Shivakumar returned to Bengaluru on Saturday after spending 48 days in Tihar Jail in New Delhi. He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case on 3 September.
On his arrival in Bengaluru, he got a hero’s welcome with thousands of party workers, who insisted his arrest was politically motivated, gathering near the airport. The welcome party involved a 20-feet long apple garland which weighed 100 kg, a massive rally from the airport to the Congress party office and a traffic jam that ensured the news of his arrival spread like wildfire.
A Vague But Grateful Speech
Even though he spoke for close to an hour, DK Shivakumar did not get into the specific details of the case or his political future. Instead, he focused on the support he received from the party workers, his meetings with the senior leadership and his loyalty towards the party.
But there were several hints in the speech indicating his stronger position in the party
DK Shivakumar emphasised, multiple times, on the size of the crowd that had voluntarily gathered for his homecoming on Saturday as well as during his arrest. “Hours after my arrest there was a torch procession in Kerala, there were protests in Assam, Gujarat… in New Delhi, as I was being taken to the police station, party workers had lined up along the road,” he said.
Adding that several people had come to New Delhi from Karnataka paying for the tickets from their pockets, he said, “How do I repay their debt… There is a large army of party workers here. It is important for me to be a representative of these people,” he said.
Reaffirming His Allegiance For Party
In his speech, he made it clear that he had put himself in harm’s way for the party. Reminding the gathering about him sheltering MLAs for Vilasrao Deshmukh and contesting tough elections for the party, he said, “Whenever the party has asked me for something, I have done my duty.”
Although he said he will work on the instructions of KPCC President Dinesh Gundurao for the upcoming by-election, he made it point to clarify that he had meetings with AICC President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi about the future of the party.
‘I Will fight’
Shivakumar, hours after his bail permission was sorted for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate him, said, “As per my knowledge, the permission has been given. Let them investigate,” he said.
“The honourable ED department has already appealed to the Supreme Court to withdraw my bail. That is the law let them look into it,” he added.
He said that his conscience he is clear and “time and law will answer all the questions.”
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