Responding to the proposed drought tour of B.S. Yeddyurappa, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has sarcastically said that the former did not see the severe drought situation in the State till he was appointed as the State president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) recently. The chief minister was interacting to presspersons at VIP Guesthouse in Yermarus near Raichur on Sunday morning.
“Drought has affected the people, particularly farmers in rural areas of north and Hyderabad Karnataka regions … Yeddyurappa is touring the drought-hit areas only to take political mileage,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
When asked about the recent controversy involving his son in bagging a lab contract deal, the Chief Minister said that the Matrix Imaging Solutions Ltd. in which his son, Dr. Yatindra, was a director had legally bagged the contract for providing lab services in Victoria Hospital, Bengaluru.
“Matrix Imaging Solutions Ltd. has been running diagnostic laboratory for the last seven to eight years. My son became its director only recently. The company participated in the bid and legally bagged the contract by bidding the lowest price. The Opposition is unnecessarily creating a hue and cry over the issue. Yet, on moral grounds, I had directed Medical Education Minister Dr. Sharan Prakash Patil to closely look into the matter and cancel the contract if there are any loopholes or irregularities in awarding the contract,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
To a question, the Chief Minister said that the State government had sought opinion of the Law Department on whether or not it should appeal in the Supreme Court against the decision of High Court in the denotification case involving Mr. Yeddyurappa.
“We are not indulging in revenge politics … we have sought opinion of the Law Department and will take a final decision only after it gives its opinion on the issue. If he (Mr. Yeddurappa) committed offenses, what can I do? Law will take its own course,” he said.
Minister of State for Medical Education Dr. Sharan Prakash Patil, Minister of State for Agriculture Krishna Byre Gowda, B.V. Naik, MP, Hampayya Naik, MLA, N.S. Boseraju, MLC and Basavaraj Patil Itagi, MLC, Tungabhadra Command Area Development Authority chairman A. Vasanth Kumar, Deputy Commissioner S. Sasikanth Senthil and others were present.
