Complaint of benami assets against my son is 'baseless', says Siddaramaiah

Mangaluru, May 10: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday dismissed the complaint of ‘benami assets’ against his son Dr Yathindra as “baseless”.

Reacting to media queries over a complaint lodged by a Right To Information (RTI) activist with the Income Tax department in Bengaluru accusing Dr Yathindra of indulging in benami investments abroad, the chief minister said: “It looks like a deliberate attempt by vested interests as he is planning to contest the next elections. Moreover, my son has withdrawn from the partnership of a firm he was associated with earlier.”

On the reported disappointment expressed by a section of the party leaders against the chief minister and KPCC president G Parameshwara, during a meeting with the new AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka affairs K C Venugopal on Monday, Siddaramaiah shot back at reporters questioning the source of the report. He said it was a report ‘cooked up by the media’.

He said that the AICC will take a call on appointing the new KPCC president as Venugopal is only tasked with preparing the party for the Assembly elections in 2018.

Siddaramaiah said a programme has been organised on May 13 to distribute various benefits to the needy on the occasion of his government completing four years in office.

To a query on his meeting with Governor Vajubhai Vala, the chief minister said that he explained to the governor about the prevailing drought situation in the state and action taken by the government in this regard.

Earlier, Siddaramaiah who arrived at Mangaluru International Airport by a special flight from Bengaluru, drove straight to the wedding reception of former minister Vinay Kumar Sorake’s daughter at Dr T M A Pai Hall on MG Road. Ministers B Ramanath Rai, H C Mahadevappa, M B Patil and Pramod Madhwaraj were present.

BSY’s charge

BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa said on Tuesday that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s son Dr Yathindra had planned to illegally start a diagnostic centre near Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital in Bengaluru and that he had documents regarding the same which would be made public at an appropriate time. Yeddyurappa told reporters that Dr Yathindra had been claiming that no documents were in his name, but had signed cheques. This apart, he had invested in several ventures, documents of which were available with the BJP state unit, Yeddyurappa said, He said starting a diagnostic centre near the hospital in the heart of the city was not easy, which clearly highlighted abuse of power.