On the eve of the Maharashtra Assembly elections, a major controversy came up. Opposition BJP accused Supriya Sule, a leader of NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), and Nana Patole, the Maharashtra Congress president, of involvement in a bitcoin scam.
These kinds of allegations practically originated with the claims made by former IPS official Ravindranath Patil. He accused the two of embezzling bitcoins from a cryptocurrency scam in 2018 to use in election matters.
Not just this, Sudhanshu Trivedi, a BJP Spokesperson, also played some alleged audio during a press conference. The clips also suggested that Sule and Patole were involved in the scandal. The BJP further said that those bitcoins were involved in a larger plan to destabilize the electoral process. This tends to draw question marks over the credibility of the elections. However, the legitimacy of the clips presented has not yet been confirmed.
Sule’s Take on the Allegations
In response, Supriya Sule dismissed the allegations as baseless. Instead, she said the BJP had resorted to desperate means just before the polls were underway. Also, she posted on X daring the BJP leaders for a public debate. Here’s what her post says –
“I deny all the allegations leveled against me by Sudhanshu Trivedi. This is pure conjecture and innuendo. I am ready to debate any BJP representative at a time and place of their choosing.”
Sule has lodged a legal complaint to the Elections Commission and the Cyber Cell of Pune police. She also regards all these allegations against her as having political motives. Sule also affirmed intent to issue both criminal and civil defamation notices against Sudhanshu Trivedi for peddling such “outrightly fake information.”
In another X post, Sule tagged Trivedi, stating – “It’s appalling that such baseless allegations are made by Mr. Sudhanshu Trivedi, yet not surprising, as it’s a clear attempt to deceive voters on the eve of elections.”
The Bottom Line
It brings a new dimension to Maharashtra’s already charged political atmosphere. The impact of these allegations and the elections themselves will possibly determine the future of Maharashtra politically in the days to come.
