BENGALURU: Former chief minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader H D Kumaraswamy has again raised the ‘YST tax’ issue soon after returning to Bengaluru from a foreign trip. He questioned what ‘YST tax officials’ were doing at at meeting to discuss police transfers.
Speaking to the media at the airport late on Thursday night, Kumaraswamy said, “Even if JD(S) has won only 19 seats, we can see how much fear they have. Even though I was in abroad, I have tracked political developments regularly. How did the transfer mafia took over the affairs of the the Home Department? If police officers are misused to this extent, what protection can they provide to the common people? Who was there when the meeting was supposed to be held at the police mess near Garuda Mall? YST people were there, weren’t they? When the Chief Minister and the Home Minister, police department officials were discussing about the transfer of officials, why were YST people present there?” Kumaraswamy questioned.
“Where is administration if they discuss transfers in the presence of YST? The government issued a transfer list and immediately withdrew it. Now, 32 ministers were taken to Delhi to present their report cards. The report card should be presented to the people and not to the High Command”, the JD(S) leader said.
Further, he said, “I will not release the pen drive for now. The Congress MLAs are saying that there is no money for development work. The government has sought Rs 72,000 crore in loans, so will they implement all the guarantees this year itself?” Kumaraswmay asked.
Reacting to Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar’s statement that there was an conspiracy being hatched in Singapore to bring down the Congress government, Kumaraswamy said, “It is well known how the intelligence department of the state police department is working. We went on a Europe trip with family members. But the next morning, it was portrayed as if we went on a trip just to plan to bring down the Congress-led government”.
“Perhaps, they must have thought that their government would not last long. They consult astrologers more than us, they trust astrologers more. Many tricks are done in astrology and it may have helped in in elections, but it won’t work for so long. That is why Shivakumar made such a statement”, Kumaraswamy retorted.