Income Tax sleuths on April 24 searched the premises of former Minister K. Gangadhara Gowda and his son Ranjan G. Gowda, who is president of the Congress unit in Belthangady. The search comes in the midst of campaigning for the Karnataka Assembly elections, scheduled on May 10.
The sleuths are searching the houses of the two leaders in Belthangady, and in the nearby Indabettu village. They are also searching the premises of Prasanna Education Trust, through which Mr. Gangadhara Gowda and Mr. Ranjan Gowda run a host of educational institutions.
The I-T sleuths were accompanied by local police.
Mr. Gangadhara Gowda, who had served as Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs, first got elected from Belthangady in 1978 with the Congress-I ticket. He then won on a Congress ticket in 1989. He unsuccessfully contested on a Congress ticket in 1994 and 1999 Assembly elections, and on Janata Dal (S) ticket in 2008.
His son Ranjan Gowda unsuccessfully contested on a BJP ticket in 2013. He resigned as BJP Belthangady block president and joined Congress in March 2019.
Condemning the action of the Income Tax Department, Belthangady Congress candidate Rakshith Shivaram alleged that the search was a politically motivated action by the ruling BJP government in Karnataka that is worried by the support Congress is drawing in Belthangady. “We will stand by Mr Gangadhara Gowda and Mr Ranjan Gowda,” he said.
AICC spokesperson Charan Singh Sapra told reporters in Mangaluru on April 24 that the two Congress leaders are among several supporters of the party who are being unduly targeted. “We will face it legally,” he said.
