Hours after Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai left for New Delhi to meet party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Opposition Congress heightened its attack on the Bitcoin scam, demanding that the Chief Minister should make public details on the status of investigation. This comes amidst speculations that the Chief Minister may brief the party top brass on the case.
Though Mr. Bommai made it clear that the trip to Delhi is related to irrigation projects and a programme being organised by a media house, his statement that he would seek an appointment with Mr. Modi and BJP national president J.P. Nadda have triggered speculation that he may be trying to appraise them about the Bitcoin scam.
The Congress has alleged that the scam, running to several crores, involves two top BJP leaders. Some leaders had even speculated it could lead to change of guard in the State again.
Responding to this, BJP national general secretary and state in-charge Arun Singh on Sunday sought to put an end to speculations in this regard by saying that there was no question of effecting change of guard in the state.
However, soon after the Chief Minister left for Delhi, the Congress heightened its attack with former Minister Priyank Kharge remarking again that Mr. Bommai was bound to lose his post in the coming days because of the scam. He told reporters in Kalaburagi that the children of BJP leaders, besides some officials, were involved in the scam.
In Bengaluru, KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar demanded that details related to the case including the quantum of Bitcoins seized, and those involved should be put in public domain. He claimed that whatever information the Congress had was, in fact, passed on by the BJP leaders and police officers. Responding to allegations that the son of a Congress leader was involved in the scam, Mr. Shivakumar said if it is true, the government could arrest him.
Meanwhile, former Chief Minister and JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy accused both the BJP and Congress of trying to hush up the scam. He alleged that the national parties were trying to protect the guilty by indulging in mud-slinging.
At the root of the political row is the speculation that an American agency had flagged the Bitcoin case with their Indian counterparts and the Prime Minister’s Office has sought details of the case. The scam unravelled after the city police chargesheeted hacker Srikrishna in three cases and alleged that he hacked multiple United States of America-based bitcoin exchange wallets and stole over 5,000 bitcoins, They said they had failed to recover any bitcoin, leading to questions on their whereabouts and alleged cover-up.
