BENGALURU:The spat between Food and Civil Supplies and Minority Welfare and Wakf Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan and Congress MLA Tanveer Sait continued on Tuesday. Following Sait’s remarks that Zameer was not a leader of the minority community, Zameer challenged Sait to invite him to his constituency in Mysuru, and assess who was a popular minority leader among the two based on the turnout.
Responding to questions at a press conference on Tuesday, Zameer said that though Sait has said that he (Zameer) was not a minority leader, “it was not him (Sait) who has to make the decision, but the people of the state.” Sait had recently taken a dig at both Zameer and U T Khader — the two Muslim leaders in the Cabinet — stating that the two lacked leadership qualities to represent the minority community.
On allegations that Zameer had worked against Sait in the recent Assembly elections, he dismissed it as baseless. “There were Congress observers in every constituency.
As soon as he suspected that someone from his own party was working against him to ensure his defeat, he should have brought it to the observer’s notice. Why is he raising the issue almost a month and half after the election?” he asked.He said there was a proposal to increase the amount of rice distributed under Anna Bhagya by 2 kg. A decision will be taken after a discussion with officials, he added.
Haj Bhavans to come up in Mangaluru, Kalaburagi
B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan said that the state government will soon come up with Haj Bhavans in Mangaluru and Kalaburagi. He said that work for the bhavans will start soon after the Haj season this year (September). To a question on Wakf properties, he said the department was verifying all the properties of Wakf and places in which it has not been utilised. Apart from encroachment, prime properties of Wakf Board in major cities have been leased out at throwaway prices, which will be amended, he said.