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Now Karnataka BJP targets JD factions

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE AUG. 9. After bringing to light the "acquisition" of petrol pumps and LPG dealerships by Congressmen, the Karnataka BJP has now taken on the Janata Dal(S), and former ally, the Janata Dal(U).

The BJP has released two more lists of dealerships with the former Prime Minister and Janata Dal(S) president, H.D. Deve Gowda, high on it.

In the list released here today, the Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, M.Y. Ghorpade, is shown as the owner of the Smiory Petrol Pump at Sandur. The dealerships allotted to the close relatives or associates of Mr. Ghorpade and two other Cabinet Ministers, H.K. Patil and Ramanath Rai, have been highlighted.

Meanwhile, there is a realisation in Congress circles that the dealership issue has boomeranged on them. There is also regret that two of the MLAs, G.R. Neelakantappa and Y.K. Ramaiah, known for their independent thinking, raised the issue on the floor of the Assembly giving a handle to the BJP to release the lists of dealership.

But for their action the allotment of petrol pumps and gas agencies to the kin of the Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, some of the Ministers, former and sitting MPs and others (or themselves in some cases), would have remained under wraps as they have been for several years now. It is being stated that the matter should have been left to the party MPs who had made a big issue in both the Houses of Parliament.

Karnataka has sent the largest contingent of Congress members to the Lok Sabha — 17.

The BJP has said that Anitha, wife of H.D. Kumaraswamy, former MP and one of the sons of Mr. Deve Gowda, had been allotted a petrol retail outlet at Padmanabhanagar in Bangalore. It was given under the discretionary quota, which was struck down by the court.

Surprisingly, when the oil company auctioned it, only two bids were received. The party has alleged that the "prospective buyers were threatened and not allowed to take part in the bidding.'' The outlet was auctioned for a paltry sum of Rs.1.4 lakhs against the minimum of Rs.30 lakhs it would have fetched under normal circumstances.

A close relative of Mr. Deve Gowda, D.C. Thammanna, was allotted a petrol pump in the name of his daughter, Sangeetha, at Kengeri near Bangalore. Ms. Sangeetha's sister is married to Ramesh, doctor-son of Mr. Gowda.

The former Minister for Petroleum and Chemicals and Congress leader, B. Shankaranand, had secured a record 20-plus petrol and LPG agencies either for his relatives or in benami. One of his associates to be given a gas agency at Shimoga was the stage artiste, Chindodi Leela.

The former State Minister, Omprakash Kanagali, who is one of the sons of Mr. Shankaranand, owned a petrol outlet at Sankeshwar (Belgaum) and a kerosene agency at Belgaum.

Another of Mr. Shankaranand's sons owned the Jugalekar LPG agency in Hubli-Dharwad. Sanjay Kalmankar, son of the former Chairman of the Legislative Council and Congress leader, D.B. Kalmankar, owned the Savitha Gas Agency in Gulbarga. There was a gas agency in Bidar in the name of Savithri Narasimha, wife of the former Congress MP, Suryavamshi. Another relative of Mr. Suryavamshi, Sunita, owned another gas agency in Bidar.

Rathnamma Veerashetty Kushnoor, who was recently elected to the Legislative Council on Congress ticket, had a kerosene agency in Bidar. S.C. Malagi, an associate of the Large Industry Minister, R.V. Deshpande, owned a kerosene agency in Uttaramatti (Belgaum).

The Congress MLA from Yelahanka, B. Prasanna Kumar (son of former Minister, B. Basavalingappa), owned a kerosene agency at Yelahanka. The former Congress MLA, Mahesh Chand (petrol pump in Maddur), Karning kerosene agency at Gokak and Kannan gas agency at Shantinagar in Bangalore, are the other allottees.

Two relatives of the former Chief Minister and Janata Dal(S) leader, S.R. Bommai, Raju Patil and Hasabi owned LPG agencies in Hubli-Dharwad.

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