Income tax raids: Congress, JDS call it political conspiracy; BJP blames it on ill-begotten wealth

Bengaluru: The Income Tax raids held across the districts of Mandya and Hassan in Karnataka have split the political world. While the Congress and the JD(S), the two parties of the ruling coalition, see the raids as a witch-hunt, a tactic of intimidation and a ploy or stratagem to score some political brownie points in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has dismissed the allegations outright, saying the raids have nothing to do with politics, and that the raids were conducted, purely based on suspicion of ill-begotten wealth. The entire day saw political leaders from both the parties engaging in a verbal duel.