BENGALURU: With MB Patil, a minister in the Siddaramaiah cabinet, issuing a statement on Sunday that the new government will probe alleged scams in the BJP government, the ruling party is trying to score brownie points. “In a private conversation with us, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said investigations should be conducted in every department,” Patil, a staunch supporter of the CM, told reporters.
Controversies, including the recruitment in the police sub-inspector (PSI) posts, irrigation department and bribery alleged by the contractors, will be probed. “We will take the investigations to their logical end and ensure that the guilty, irrespective of them being political leaders or officials, are punished,” he said.
The statements also started coming in from other members of the Siddaramaiah camp, like former KPCC president Dinesh Gundurao and senior leader Basavaraj Rayareddy. Rayareddy said Siddaramaiah wants to give a transparent government. Political observers said Siddarmaiah wants to maintain his clean image and the talk of investigations has come ahead of the first legislative session beginning on Monday.
It could also be an attempt to extend his purported 30-month term to a full five-year period, they added. It could also be a tactic to tackle the opposition BJP, which is likely to dig out the alleged old scams including the Arkavathy Layout land denotification (redo), to corner Siddaramaiah, political pundits said.
Minister Priyank Kharge said the Bitcoin scam too will be investigated. Kharge had in November 2021 levelled serious allegations against the previous BJP government, alleging that big leaders were involved in the scam after Srikrishna alias Shriki was arrested. He had then tweeted, “The accused Shriki had hacked into 3 bitcoin exchanges 14 websites including 10 poker websites and exploited malwares. The total of which is not disclosed but is speculated to be about Rs 2283 crore.’’
On Sunday, in a series of tweets, the Chittapur MLA said he has tasked the Kalaburagi city police commissioner and SP to curb corruption at police stations, and check illegal gambling and betting, sand mining and drug peddling. He also asked the top police officials to stop traffic violations, rein in rowdies and stop harassment to the public. He said 2.5 lakh vacancies in different government departments will be filled as soon as possible. This will help eradicate the issue of unemployment in the state to an extent and all departments concerned will take up the recruitment process, he added.