Bengaluru: Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy has accused Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and Home Minister G Parameshwara of conspiring to target the JD(S) leadership and divert the investigation into a sting operation involving Congress leader Siddaramaiah.

Kumaraswamy alleged that Shivakumar was behind a purported Rs 600-crore deal aimed at politically eliminating the family of former prime minister and JD(S) founder HD Deve Gowda. He described the alleged deal as a conspiracy to finish off the family, but did not provide evidence to substantiate the charge in his remarks to reporters.

The Union minister made the allegations after offering prayers at the Sri Ranganathaswamy temple in Hassan district. He maintained that the state government was attempting to implicate him and the JD(S) in the investigation into the sting operation despite, he claimed, evidence pointing away from their involvement.

Kumaraswamy also accused the government of protecting those allegedly responsible for the operation and using the investigation to divert attention from the controversy surrounding Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) recruitment.

Taking a swipe at the progress claimed by the state government, he referred to Home Minister G Parameshwara’s reported statement that 80 per cent of the sting operation investigation had been completed. Kumaraswamy countered that while 80 per cent of the probe had been completed, 90 per cent of the KPSC recruitment scam had effectively been covered up.

He also questioned claims that people close to him had fled to avoid the investigation, asking what evidence existed against them that would prompt them to abscond.

Kumaraswamy named journalist Rakesh Shetty, Congress leader Krupa Alva and their associates as people allegedly involved in conducting the sting operation. He claimed that Siddaramaiah and his son Yathindra had also identified individuals allegedly connected with the operation, but accused Shivakumar and other Congress leaders of attempting to shift responsibility onto the JD(S).

The Union minister further alleged that the 2023 sting operation, which he claimed was conducted with the involvement of Congress workers, had been used as a political instrument to undermine Siddaramaiah’s position as chief minister.

He questioned whose interests the operation had served and argued that investigators should establish who organised it rather than target people he described as being at the lower levels of the political hierarchy.

Kumaraswamy said he was prepared to fight the alleged conspiracy and warned that the JD(S) would intensify its agitation if the government continued what he described as an attempt to shield the actual perpetrators.

The Congress had not issued a response to Kumaraswamy’s latest allegations at the time of reporting.