Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Aug 19: The entrustment of phone tapping case to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has all the makings of fomenting trouble to several leaders including former chief minister (CM) H D Kumaraswamy, who has been accused of ordering the same. The other person who might face lot of heat happens to be former city police commissioner Alok Kumar.

After the issue surfaced with the leakage of audio clip involving current city police commissioner Bhaskar Rao, the CM discussed the matter with director general of police Neelamani Raju, at his residence on Sunday. It is learnt that during this meeting, he asked the DGP to instruct senior officials to extend cooperation for the CBI probe.

H D Kumaraswamy

Yediyurappa has said that the issue is being referred to CBI as Congress leader Siddaramaiah, and some others had demanded for it. Siddaramaiah expressed the apprehension that the BJP may use CBI for settling political scores by using CBI like a puppet under its government.

Some sources say that former CM Kumaraswamy, had put together some important documents including reports and investigation reports of special investigation teams, which are likely to create problems to some leading BJP legislators, as soon as he found that he could not stop the government from crumbling. Therefore, Amit Shah and central leaders advised Yediyurappa to keep Kumaraswamy on tight leash by referring the phone tapping issue to CBI, it is said.

Disqualified JD(S) MLA Vishwanath and disqualified legislators have welcomed the decision to give the case to CBI for investigation. Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee has criticized the government for the decision. Some JD(S) leaders have welcomed it while others have opposed. Speaking at a press conference on Sunday at Dharmasthala, Subrahmanya and Udupi on Sunday, Kumaraswamy said that he is prepared for any kind of inquiry, be it by CBI or led by Trump. He said that no one can put Deve Gowda family under pressure through such tactics. He also challenged the CM to uphold the request made by Siddaramaiah to subject horse trading indulged in by the BJP leaders for toppling his government, to CBI. He also said that the then UPA government at the centre had immediately released Rs 1,000 crore as flood relief when Yediyurappa was the CM whereas the current BJP government has done nothing. He accused the son of Yediyurappa of indulging in the business of transfers.

Senior JD(S) leader Basavaraj Horatti felt that the phone tapping allegation should have been given to some state government agency for investigation.

Mandya MP Sumalatha Ambareesh welcomed the decision. She said she has been demanding for CBI investigation into phone tapping episode and that she had complained about 300 phones having been tapped since the time of Lok Sabha election.

Former deputy chief minister, R Ashok, noted that Siddaramaiah had demanded for CBI inquiry and wondered why the Congress is opposing it now. Former minister V Somanna noted that in addition to Siddaramaiah, former minister M B Patil had also demanded for high level investigation.

Some BJP leaders may also face embarrassment as details of calls made by certain leaders of the party, particularly the ones in which they had made offers to MLAs to cross over to the BJP, might also come out.