Minister for Health and Family Welfare U.T. Khader accused the BJP of attempting to “divide communities” before the elections by making an issue of the allotment a plot of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) to his brother’s charitable foundation.
The Congress expressed its intention of lodging a complaint with both the Election Commission and the city police.
Addressing presspersons here on Thursday, Mr. Khader produced documents to show that the BDA called for applications for numerous civic amenity sites on January 10, 2013.
The site at Banashankari was reserved for a “physically and mentally challenged institute”. Among the applicants were U.T. Naseema Fareed Memorial Charitable Education Trust — named after Mr. Khader’s mother and run by his younger brother — and Kukke Subramanya Temple, which expressed its intention to set up an information centre there.
“As the site was clearly marked for an institution of the disabled, Kukke Subramanya’s application was not considered…The allocations were done at the time of the BJP government, when I was just an MLA. I played no role in allocation of the site, and in fact, I had little knowledge about it,” said Mr. Khader, and added that he was ready for an inquiry into the matter.
