Siddaramaiah's son bags plum project in Govt hospital: Opposition draws first blood

Bengaluru, April 14: With allegations of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's son getting a plum project on a government run medical college, the opposition in the state is contemplating legal action.

The allegation is that the Chief Minister's son, Dr Yathindra who was inducted into the board of a private medical diagnostic company in Bengaluru, Matrix Imaging Solutions Ltd was awarded a plum project to set up a diagnostic laboratory inside the premises of the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute which is run by the government.

While Dr Yathindra has denied any wrong doing, his father has made it clear that the entire process was a transparent one and there is no illegality in it. His friend owns the company and he is a director in it the Chief Minister told reporters in Bengaluru.

The background:

Matrix Imaging Solutions set up in 2009 by two persons called Ramesh Gowda and Satish Prasad. In the year 2014, Dr Yathindra was inducted as a director. On September 19 2015 the BMRCI called for bids to set up a clinical laboratory and imaging service. The bid was bagged by Matrix Imaging.

The opposition in Karnataka has sought for an investigation into the matter. Raising this issue BJP leader K S Eshwarappa said that if the Chief Minister claims that the process was transparent then he should not worry and a probe must be constituted.

Dr Yathindra on the other hand says that there is no irregularity. I have spoken to my advocate and he is there is no conflict of interest. I am ready to quit if there are violations he also said. Matrix on the other hand explained that there were four companies at the pre-bid stage. Matrix and HLL were short listed but the latter did not submit a demand draft on time.

There were objections:

During the process there were objections that had been raised by several senior doctors. Firstly some questioned the need to set up a private lab when there was already a state of the art lab being in place. Moreover the other objection was whether it would be right to allow a private firm to make profit on a government land.

However there were others who had overruled the objections by citing the Mysore Medical College. They said that in the year 2009 the Mysore Medical College had allowed a private lab to be set up on the campus.

Opposition draws first blood:

The BJP's newly appointed Karnataka president, Yeddyurappa said that he is contemplating legal action. The Chief Minister has misused his office and power the former Chief Minister informed. It is a major offence, he also said.

Another BJP leader Eshwarappa sought for action. He said that the a probe must be initiated to find out if the the contract was awarded just because the son of the CM was a director in the company. Further he also said that if the CM feels that there was no violation then he must not be scared of initiating a probe into the matter.

OneIndia News