Ballari: Enforcement Directorate officials discovered eight places, including Ballari MP E Tukaram and four MLAs in the money laundering case related to the alleged Valmiki scam, sources said. The methods whose houses were raided were Bharat Reddy (Ballari City), JN Ganesh (Complete), NT Srinivas (Kudaligi) and B Nagendra (Ballari Rural).Sources said that ED officials were collecting evidence on the allegation that funds from Karnataka Maharishi Valmiki St. Development Corporation accounts were used to distribute cash to voters and Congress employees of Balari seat during 2024 Lok Sabha elections.Congress President Mallikrajun Kharge termed the discoveries to divide the party in Karnataka as a “conspiracy”. He said, “I don’t know the details. I have seen it on TV. Naturally, if Ed has done so, he is angry with the Congress party from the beginning,” he said.Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah said that his government would not support any violation of law, nor will it come in the way of implementation of law. In response to a question, Sidaramaiah said, “What should I do? Ed raided. Whatever they want according to the law. We will not support any violation of law. We will not come in the way of implementation of law. We will not interrupt it.”Deputy CM DK Shivkumar said, “There is no connection between our MLAs and Valmiki Corporation Scam. Our leaders did not distribute money in any election. About 90% of the money misused by the authorities in the scam was recovered.”
