Referring to BJP leader and Vijayapura MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal’s bitter attack on his party leader and former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, Congress leader and Home Minister G. Parameshwar has said that Mr. Yatnal has made this party’s task easy.
Mr. Yatnal has charged Mr. Yediyurappa with being involved in a ₹40,000-crore scam during efforts to tackle COVID-19 in the State.
“We thought that the previous BJP government was involved in a ₹4,000-crore scam in the name of handling COVID-19. But, we now realise that the scam size is ₹40,000 crore. Mr. Yatnal’s revelations will help the investigation of the irregularities and misappropriation of funds in handling COVID-19. The John Michael Cunha Commission is inquiring the case,” Dr. Parameshwar told journalists at a media conference in Kalaburagi on Wednesday.
Asked about the notice issued by the Veerappa Committee probing into the PSI recruitment exam scam, the Home Minister said that it is quite natural for a probing committee to issue notice to get more information about a case.
“The probing committee issues notice to various people and authorities to get more information. The government is now aware of whom it issues notice to. Once the investigation is over, the committee will submit its report to the government. The government will then decide the future course of action after getting legal opinion from experts,” Dr. Parameshwar said.
To a question on the shifting of decentralised examination centres to Bengaluru, the Home Minister said that it is a temporary arrangement and assured that examinations to be conducted the future will again be decentralised.
“A court has directed us to get the examination conducted by an independent body. Lakhs of people take examinations and we want no injustice to be meted out to any of them. At present, around 54,000 people are writing various examinations, including KSET [Karnataka State Eligibility Test] and we are conducting them in Bengaluru to make them free and fair. This is a temporary measure and examinations to be conducted in the future will be conducted in the regional centres,” Dr. Parameshwar said.
No restrictions
Speaking on COVID-19 spreading in the neighbouring States, Dr. Parameshwar said that the new variant of COVID-19 virus is not widespread in the State and there is no proposal to impose strict restrictions at present.
“The Cabinet Sub-Committee on COVID-19 has said that the new variant of the COVID-19 virus is not widespread in the State. The health experts have said that JN.1, a sub-variant of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 virus, is not dangerous. Yet, we are not taking it lightly. The Union government has already issued guidelines on handling the pandemic. Wearing masks is advised for people aged above 60. It is better if everybody starts wearing masks. We have made preparations to handle the situation,” he said.
Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil, legislators Allamprabhu Patil, Tippannappa Kamaknur, District Congress Committee president Jagadev Guttedar, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Sharankumar Modi and others were present.
