Yeddyurappa meets BJP leaders over sons’ crore-rich trust

Mtoday News

New Delhi, March 10:  In what seems to be turning into a BJP ritual, the Chief Minister of Karnataka was summoned to Delhi today to explain the latest in a catalogue of corruption charges. 

BS Yeddyurappa denied on record that his trip to the capital was incited by allegations that a trust run by his son in Karnataka got hefty donations from companies that benefited richly in return. 

Documents suggesting that Mr Yeddyurappa bent the rules to favour these firms were released yesterday by HD Kumaraswamy, former chief minister of Karnataka and an Opposition leader who has devoted the last few months to furnishing hundreds of documents that link his political rival to corruption.

Late last year, Mr Yeddyurappa’s children were forced to return prime property that had been given to them by the government in areas that had been claimed from farmers for public projects. Then, as now, Mr Kumaraswamy had released documents that helped establish that rules had been broken by the Chief Minister.


In his home district of Shimoga, the Prerana Educational and Social Trust has built many schools and colleges since it was founded in 2006.  It could certainly afford to do so. With Mr Yeddurappa’s s two sons, Raghavendra and Vijayendra, among its trustees, 27 crores have been provided by obliging donors which include mining and real estate firms.

There is a mining firm which reportedly stood to gain from modifications in the state’s mining laws
 
Detractors like Mr Kumaraswamy say that one donor - real estate firm Adarsha - chipped in with five crores because it was not penalized after a government committee reported it guilty of encroaching upon public land.  Adarsha’s MD, BM Jayashankar denies that. He says that the government land that had mistakenly been appropriated by his company was returned, and that properties he rents from the Chief Minister’s family, or loans given to Shoba Karandlaje, a minister known for her proximity to the Chief Minister, are no sign of an unhealthy association.
 
Mr Kumaraswamy’s campaign also highlights a mining company named South West that donated 10 crores to the Prerana Trust. In return, the government allegedly tweaked mining policies to benefit South West.

Mr Yeddyurappa has stoutly denied any irregularities.

"The institutions are run by few important persons including my son. So some important industrialists may have given donation for this institution. He made it very big. For that I don’t want to comment anything. People of Karnataka know very well for last 10 years we are running that institution. Thousands of students are getting good education there, so I am not at all worried about these comments. It is left to Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy," Yeddyurappa said.

He added, "He had already made these allegations. He felt Bangalore was not enough so he did this again in Delhi... PES is an educational institution. It does not belong to Yeddyurappa, nor am I connected with it. My sons and others have got together and set up this educational institution to help the people of Shimoga."