Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah led a protest against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for allegedly pressuring a government official to implicate him and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar in the Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribe Development Corporation scam. Protests, attended by Congress MLAs and ministers, accused the ED of conducting politically motivated investigations on behalf of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to destabilize the ruling government. The Chief Minister emphasized the party's readiness for a legal battle against the ED and criticized the central government's alleged backdoor politics aimed at undermining the Congress party in Karnataka. Siddaramaiah noted that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) had already recovered significant funds from the accused in the fraud case, contrasting it with the ED's actions. The protests were sparked by allegations following an official's suicide note that pointed to multi-crore corruption in the corporation. Congress leaders described the situation as a 'surgical strike' on Karnataka's democratically elected government, asserting that they would continue to voice their opposition in the legislature.