Four days after income tax sleuths carried out searches on the offices and residences of Cafe Coffee Day chairman V.G. Siddhartha, the raids reportedly concluded with admission of concealed income exceeding Rs 650 crore. The IT sleuths, who had raided 25 locations across Bengaluru, Chikmagalur, Chennai and Mumbai, hinted at the possibility of the amount being much higher, while pointing out there were “other issues” including other violations.
The raids assume significance not only because the Cafe Coffee Day (CCD), founded in 1996, is India's largest coffee retail chain with 1423 outlets across 209 cities in India, Austria, Czech Republic, Malaysia, Egypt and Nepal, but because Siddhartha is the son-in-law of former chief minister S.M. Krishna, who quit the Congress party and joined the BJP last January.
The ruling Congress has always accused the BJP of indulging in “vendetta politics” following every I-T raid on properties of Congress ministers and office-bearers. But the raid on CCD has left them confused. Those alleging the “misuse” of central agencies by Prime Minister Narrendra Modi's government too find the situation tricky.
“This proves I-T is working independently and there is no political interference,” said state BJP spokesperson G. Madhusudhan.
The I-T raids on the properties of Karnataka's energy minister D.K. Shivakumar, Congress women's wing chief Lakshmi Hebbalkar, MLC K. Govindaraju and SSI minister Ramesh Jarkilholi had rattled the ruling party in the state. In fact, the timing of the raids on Shivakumar's houses and offices last August, when he was playing host to Congress MLAs from Gujarat, ahead of the crucial Gujarat elections to Rajya Sabha, gave the Congress enough reason to blame the BJP. They alleged the BJP was misusing the I-T, enforcement directorate and the CBI to corner their “detractors”. However, the CCD incident has caught both the Congress and the BJP unawares.
While senior BJP leaders chose to remain mum, the BJP spokespersons and the social media was quick to point out that the I-T raids had little to do with the Centre or the BJP. KPCC working president Dinesh Gundu Rao suspected that the raids were an indication that the BJP was “done with” veteran leader Krishna. The exit of former chief minister S.M. Krishna, one of the tallest leaders of the party, had no doubt caused a huge embarrassment to the Congress. The Congress leaders had maintained a guarded silence on the issue too. But, on September 21, Rao was quick to accuse the BJP of being “ruthless” with people who join the party.
Rao also dismissed the BJP theory that the CCD raid was an indication that I-T was functioning independently.
“Siddhartha does not belong to any political party. No powerful person in the BJP has been targeted though very senior Congress leaders have been the target of vendetta politics of the BJP. The party under Amit Shah and Modi is indulging in blackmail to force people to join the party. When Krishna joined the BJP too, it raised a lot of questions,” said Rao, claiming that the BJP had discarded Krishna.
Krishna who was last seen campaigning for the two bypolls in Nanjangud and Gundlupet(which the BJP lost), has not attended any high-decibel BJP rally, meeting or campaign.
