BENGALURU: Three days after Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya landed in a controversy while highlighting an alleged bed allotment scam in the BBMP, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa came out in his support. Responding to the attack on the MP by Opposition leaders for purportedly fanning communal targeting, Yediyurappa said Surya had exposed a scam and the attacks against him were condemnable. “Tejasvi Surya worked very hard, took risks to expose this scam and bring it to the government's notice. I spoke to him for an hour about it and took necessary actions.
I, on behalf of the government, appreciate his effort. He has presented facts of the matter," the CM said. He also took exception to Congress leaders attacking the BJP MP. "People like Zameer Ahmed are attacking Tejasvi as if he has done something wrong. I urge everybody to refrain from speaking so lightly about Tejasvi Surya," Yediyurappa added, hailing Surya for highlighting the alleged scam. Surya, along with three other BJP MLAs -- Ravi Subramanya, Satish Reddy and Uday Garudachar -- had visited the South Zone BBMP Covid- 19 war room on Tuesday and read out names of Muslim staffers, insinuating their involvement in the alleged scam.
The BJP leaders singling out Muslim staffers brought them under severe criticism, with the Opposition accusing them of communalising the issue. Yediyurappa’s backing of Surya comes after senior BJP leaders like party National General Secretary B L Santhosh publicly backed Surya and rejected claims of the issue being communalised. BJP sources said the CM's silence on the issue over the past three days was making way for more criticism being thrown the party's way.
Yediyurappa, however, conveniently refused to say anything about the names Surya read out in the war room, or Satish Reddy levelling accusations against them, or Ravi Subramanya asking if appointments were being made "for corporation or madrasas". Congress leader Zameer Ahmed had asked why Surya did not see anyone else other than Muslims. “There were 205 employees ... but you singled out only 16 Muslims. How fair is this? It shows how venomous you are, Tejasvi Surya,” Khan said. Responding to CM’s statement backing him, Surya took to his social media pages to thank him.
CM TURNS TO BENGALURU’S GUARDIAN DEITY
CM Yediyurappa began Friday with a visit to Bengaluru’s ancient Annamma Devi temple in Gandhinagar. He offered special prayers at the small shrine of Goddess Annamma, known to be the guardian deity of Bengaluru since the time of the city’s founder, Nadaprabhu Kempegowda. “I have offered prayers to the mother and have sought an end to this pandemic and good health of all citizens. With the Goddess’ grace, I am confident this too shall pass,” Yediyurappa told reporters after his temple visit.