Bengaluru: Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy on Wednesday tweeted to the world that he expected Income Tax raids to be held against top leaders of the Congress-JD(S). True to his prognosis, the I-T department did raid prominent leaders of the coalition. 

But the bigger question at hand is: In the hurry to score some praises and prove to the world that PM Modi is vindictive and spiteful, has HD Kumaraswamy dug his own grave? Has he ended up being fooled in his endeavour to put the Centre to the noose? 

The I-T department took the help of CRPF when it raided several places belonging to prominent leaders. The I-T department took the services of the CRPF Karnataka battalion in this regard. As per protocol, the department has to inform the local police force before they employ the services of the CRPF. Sources say that it was the police force which informed the CM about the impending raids. 

Using this tip-off by the police, the chief minister gave it a twist of his own, in order to display pre-poll braggadocio, he scripted a lie of his own by saying it was a close friend from the BJP who revealed the secret.         

And once he came to know of the raids, sources say the CM and his coterie worked overtime to ensure all the money in the places that would be prospectively raided was stashed in the house of an extremely robust, influential and senior JD(S) leader in a very prominent locality of Bengaluru. 

Though Kumaraswamy and his cohort might pat their back by saving themselves in the last minute, they haven’t achieved the goal. Sources say that the stashed money in the influential leader’s house is akin to being locked. The senior leader would not allow the movement of the money from his house, fully knowing that he would be put to embarrassment and national ignominy if the origin of the vehicles transporting the money is traced. 

So, sources say that it is a case of ‘so near yet so far’ for the ruling coalition. 

Meanwhile, HD Deve Gowda was conspicuous by his absence at the protests held in front of the I-T department. Sources draw our attention to the fact that Deve Gowda absented himself, with full knowledge of Kumaraswamy’s needless flippancy, chicanery and bravado at the time of Lok Sabha elections. 

Though Congress’s leaders were present in the protest, highly placed sources say that former chief minister Siddaramaiah is happy at the Kumaraswamy’s suicidal endeavour, for it brings more votes and political plaudits for his cronies and candidates.