VIJAYAPURA: In one of the most direct and sharpest attacks against BS Yediyurappa, BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal on Tuesday accused the former chief minister of making huge amounts of money during the Covid pandemic.
Talking to media persons, Yatnal said that while the price of a face mask in the market was only Rs 45, Yediyurappa got the government to pay Rs 485, increasing the price by over 10 times.
“Not only that, the then government hired around 10,000 beds to set up quarantine centres. It paid Rs 20,000 as rent for each bed. For that amount, they could have easily purchased two new beds. It was open loot when Yediyurappa was chief minister. He allowed misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs 40,000 crores,” Yatnal alleged.
He said that during the pandemic, hospitals charged Rs 8-10 lakhs from each Covid patient in the name of treatment. “I was charged Rs 5.8 lakh when I was admitted to a private hospital in Bengaluru for Covid,” he said.
He said that being an MLA, he could get the charges reimbursed from the government, but what about the poor who could not afford such huge hospital bills, he asked.
To a question, he threatened to expose more BJP leaders if he is expelled from the party. “Let the party expel me, I will then expose each of them as I know a lot about these people” he threatened.
He also accused former agriculture minister BC Patil of being the most corrupt agriculture minister.
He was replying to Patil’s remarks, advising him to float own party if he has so many problems with BJP leaders, including Yediyurappa.
“I know how corrupt Patil was when he was agriculture minister. If you (media persons) talk in private with officials of the agriculture department, they will tell you that they have never seen such a corrupt minister,” Yatnal charged.
He alleged that Patil centralised the supply of fertilisers and agriculture equipment so that the commission money reached him directly.
1ST MEET OF NEW BJP OFFICE-BEARERS TODAY
BENGALURU: The first meeting of newly appointed office-bearers of the BJP state unit will be held on Wednesday. The party will also start the process of appointment of new presidents of district units. BJP General Secretary P Rajiv said consultations will be held with local leaders before deciding on appointment of district-level office-bearers. Rajiv said BJP state president B Y Vijayendra will hold a meeting with senior leaders, including former chief ministers B S Yediyurappa, DV Sadananda Gowda and Basavaraj Bommai as well as former BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel on Thursday to formulate a strategy for the Lok Sabha polls and expose the state government’s failures.