Bengaluru, Oct 5 (IANS): CBI raids on Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar's premises on Monday triggered another round of political slugfest between Congress and BJP, with opposition party leaders terming it "raid raj" and ruling party accusing the Congress of playing the victim card.

Launching a tirade against the Congress in Mysuru, newly appointed BJP National General Secretary CT Ravi tweeted that "here comes the liar @rssurjewala, with his basketful of lies".

"It was the corrupt @INCIndia government led by Sonia Gandhi that treated the Central Bureau of Investigation as a puppet against its opponents. Wasn't the huge unaccounted money seized by I-T authorities during the raid on the house of @DKShivakumar?" he questioned.

Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala had earlier tweeted: "The insidious game of intimidation and machinations of Modi-Yeddyurappa duo being executed by a puppet CBI by raiding @DKShivakumar.... But, 'Raid Raj' is their only Machiavellian move."

The Karnataka BJP posted on Twitter that the Congress should have known that they would have had to face such an embarrassment in future when they garlanded Shivakumar on his release from Tihar jail.

"He is a corrupt politician everyone knows, but the Congress is hell-bent on protecting him. The Congress should be ashamed of it," the BJP tweet read.

Karnataka BJP President Nalinkumar Kateel questioned why the Congress was not allowing independent investigation agencies to conduct free and fair probe. "Already, agencies like I-T authorities, ED have completed their raids and now the CBI has raided, which means there must be something these agencies would have found; otherwise, why would the CBI raid him?"

Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar told reporters in Mysuru that there was no vindictive politics in the raids. "This is not the first time that Shivakumar's premises have been raided. If he is truly honest, as he often claims, he will come out unscathed. Why should anyone bother? Let the central agencies do their job," he remarked.

He argued that if the BJP wanted to indulge in vindictive politics, the raids would have been conducted against former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah? "Siddaramaiah is, any day, a bigger mass leader than Shivakumar. Let the Congress people not indulge in political games; people are aware of what the Congress is upto," he said.