A day after Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya “exposed” the BBMP bed allotment scam, the Congress has alleged that it is no exposé but a bid to divert the attention from the Chamarajnagar tragedy where 24 COVID-19 patients lost their lives due to oxygen scarcity. But a major charge against Surya, national president of BJP's youth wing, is that he is trying to give a "communal spin" to the case.
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Surya, who conducted an audit of the bed allotment in the south zone war room on Tuesday, had read out a list of 17 persons deployed in the war room, all of whom belonged to the minority community. Surya was accompanied by 3 BJP MLAs, including his uncle Ravi Subramanya. "Is it a madrassa or a war room," Subramanya had asked the in-charge officer.
KPCC working president Saleem Ahmed slammed Surya for indulging in "communal politics" instead of questioning his own government or the minister.
"The super admin of the bed blocking system are the administrator, the taskforce head and the health minister. But, instead of questioning them, the MP has selectively named 17 persons of a particular community working in the war room, which has 205 outsourced workers. I condemn this communal and childish statement of the MP," said Ahmed, who urged the chief minister to suspend the concerned officials and order an inquiry.
Rajya Sabha member Nasir Hussain slammed Surya stating the MP had a history of targeting the Muslim community.
"This is not the first time Surya has targeted the Muslims. He blamed the Tablighi Jamaat for the spread of coronavirus. He had made derogatory statements about women and orgasm. He referred to Muslims as "puncturewallas" during the CAA protests. And now, he has picked on 17 out of the 205 outsourced workers of the war room only because they are Muslims. In fact, all 205 appointments were done through Crystal Infosystems, a company recommended by a BJP minister. I demand a thorough investigation into the case and against everyone in the war room. Before that, we want the BBMP in-charge minister to resign," said Hussain.
Congress state spokesperson Brijesh Kalappa demanded legal action against Surya under Indian Penal Code sections 353 A (use of criminal force to prevent public servant from discharging his duty) and 295 (intent to outrage religious feelings).
"Atal Behari Vajpayee had asked leaders to follow Rajadharma that does discriminate people based on their caste or religion. But Surya has accused the 17 outsourced workers without any material evidence. Surya has thrown a bomb on Chief Minister Yediyurappa to divert people's attention from the Chamarajnagar incident. In fact, the courts have ordered that people who disrupt oxygen supplies be charged with murder. The Mysuru MP should be booked for disrupting oxygen supply to Chamrajnagar," said Kalappa.
Meanwhile, the Central Crime Branch, which took over the investigation into the bed allotment scam on Wednesday raided the COVID-19 war rooms in all four zones. At least four persons, including a doctor, have been detained for interrogation.
