Bengaluru: Ministers HC Balakrishna and Priyank Kharge Wednesday turned the tables on Union minister HD Kumaraswamy following his allegations against chief minister DK Shivakumar over his assets, questioning the alleged rise in property holdings of Kumaraswamy’s brother during his tenure as CM.Municipal administration minister Balakrishna asked Kumaraswamy to explain how his brother Balakrishna Gowda’s property had risen to around Rs 1,000 crore “all of a sudden”. “Let him explain. Did he earn Rs 1,000 crore by growing potatoes?” he asked.He added: “This happened when Kumaraswamy was CM. Does it mean the property is benami of Kumaraswamy? We are not blackmailers. We have work to do. There is ED and I-T. We submit our documents during elections through affidavits, and they can look into them.” Balakrishna also accused Kumaraswamy of recycling old documents instead of raising anything new.Kumaraswamy had on Tuesday alleged irregularities in Bengaluru Mysuru Infrastructure Corridor project and questioned Shivakumar’s wealth, alleging he and his family benefited from the project. Shivakumar rejected the allegations, saying his assets were legally acquired and disclosed to the income tax department.Meanwhile, Priyank challenged Kumaraswamy and BJP and JD(S) functionaries to put their assets and those of their relatives under scrutiny. “Kumaraswamy is a Union minister and a former CM,” he said. “He had two decades of time (to act on the allegations he made). He had time when he was CM. Why didn’t he do this then?” he asked.Priyank added: “Let us call a special session and discuss how much property everyone has amassed, how much is yours and your relatives’ property, how it was acquired, the extent of Shivakumar’s property and how he acquired it. Let people know everything.”Meanwhile, chief minister DK Shivakumar rejected BJP functionary NR Ramesh’s allegations of irregularities in the Rs 444-crore KSWAN 3.0 tender, saying the complaint against minister Yathindra Siddaramaiah was false. “Yathindra became a minister only a couple of months ago,” Shivakumar said, questioning how he could have committed irregularities so quickly. Ramesh had alleged that the tender issued by Centre for e-governance was structured to favour a particular bidder and that Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd was prevented from participating. He also alleged complaints were ignored and named Yathindra in a complaint to Enforcement Directorate.
