Karnataka Energy minister D K Shivakumar at his residence in Bengaluru. (PTI)

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday attacked the Congress party for referring to the recent Income Tax raids at Karnataka Minister’s house as a “witch-hunt” and said the grand old party is doing nothing, but shaming itself by standing up on this matter, rather than supporting the government. “There can be no protection, no insulation against the corrupt. The more the Congress tries to use its muscle and strength in the Parliament on such issues, it paints its face black every time, it shames itself” BJP leader G.V.L. Narasimha Rao told ANI.

Rao said the Karnataka Minister has been under the radar for quite a long time and the I-T raids were not sudden. “The Congress minister, who is being raided in Karnataka, was already under probe. Rather than coming clean on these charges of corruption and black money, Rahul Gandhi is giving out a message to fight. And fight for what, to protect their illegal wealth?,” he asked.

Rao said the ruling government would not spare anyone involved in such activities be it from the Congress or the BJP. Another BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain said the raid was conducted after proper probe conducted by the I-T department and on the basis of the evidences received against him. “So much money has been recovered from these people. The Congress should first answer how the money is being recovered,” Hussain told ANI.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Income Tax department raided a resort on the outskirts of Bengaluru, where 42 Congress MLAs from Gujarat were holed up to avoid poaching by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat.

The I-T department raided on multiple locations linked to Karnataka Energy Minister D. K Shivakumar too, including his residence. The department recovered around Rs. 7 crore from Shivakumar’s properties that it found to be questionable.

The Congress said that there was a clear connection between the raids and the upcoming elections in Gujarat for three Rajya Sabha seats, while the I-T department said this was a pre-planned raid.