Bengaluru: Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka, which are scheduled to be held in two phases on 18 and 23 April, the chief minister H D Kumaraswamy raised fears that CRPF personnel have been deployed in the State to carry out raids in Congress and JD(S) members’ houses.

He claimed that 200 to 300 CRPF personnel had been brought from various parts of the country to carry out I-T raids in Karnataka. Speaking to reporters at Mandya, the CM said that the raids may be carried out at 5 am today.

Kumaraswamy warned the BJP-led NDA government that he would follow what his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee, who had staged a dharna from 3 to 5 February against the Centre and CBI, did if it tried to intimidate the Congress-JDS coalition partners in the State.

The Centre was resorting to politics of vengeance using the income tax officials as its agents alleged the CM. Instead of State police, the I-T has brought in CRPF soldiers, which is unfair, said the CM. “I know the game income tax officials are playing at the final stage of election. They should be cautious because if they think that they can function like the agents of a political party forever, they may end up repenting,” he said in a stern message to I-T officials.

Reacting to the news, the Congress’ Karnataka unit wanted to know whether I-T, Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation were the arms of the BJP-led Central government to win elections.