Tejasvi Surya denies making Bengaluru COVID bed racket communal: 'Curse of the country...'

Shortly after the Karnataka Congress Unit accused Tejasvi Surya of giving a communal colour to the BBMP bed scam, the BJP MP on Thursday spoke exclusively to Republic Media Network's Executive Editor Niranjan Narayanaswamy. When asked to comment on being accused of targeting one community, Tejasvi Surya said that it's the curse of this country that the moment you name a few people from a particular community, the entire issue is that the focus is diverted from the main issue. 

Tejasvi Surya said, "What happened in this incident is that when I visited the war room, the Joint Commissioner handed or the list and said to me that a few people were sacked a few days ago. The list of the people that I read out were already sacked before I made the inspection."

Tejasvi Surya slams Congress over communalism allegations

Stating that the joint commissioner had given him the list, stating that there were some irregularities, the BJP MP said that he had read out the list and asked "who are these people and how are they employed, which agency hired them." He further said that this recording is available on television, it's available on social media. "This is all I have asked," the BJP MP added. 

Asking rhetorically on the lines of 'since when did it become a crime to ask whether the process of hiring someone was transparent or not?', Tejasvi Surya said, "I have never ever attributed any criminal motives to any of the people I have mentioned." Clarifying that he never said that the people he named were part of any scam, the BJP MP said that he has never said that these people were part of any irregularity. 

The BJP MP said, "I have read out the names and asked how were they appointed. What was the basis of their qualification in an appointment? Who hired them?" Remarking that these people were terminated from their services 2-3 days before, I went to the facility. This was collaborated in multiple places by the Commissioner of the BBMP, he added. 

While slamming people for accusing him of giving communal colour to the bed scam, Surya said, "Who cares for the facts. When you get a Hindu-Muslim issue, you go on milking out political issues because the political opposition in the country today is rendered Jobless. They are irrelevant. The only way for them to remain relevant is by taking up such non-sensible issues."

Congress attacks Tejasvi Surya over BBMP bed scam

Karnataka Congress MLA Rizwan Arshad on Wednesday hit out at BJP MP Tejasvi Surya for allegedly giving a communal twist to the BBMP bed scam. This latest development comes after Tejasvi Surya on Tuesday revealed a bed-for-bribe scam going on at the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) war room for bed allocation. 

However, soon after the press conference, a video started circulating on social media in which Tejasvi Surya can be seen taking names of people who were allegedly behind the scam. The 17 names Tejasvi Surya said out loud were all Muslim. There are over 200 people working in the war room that is responsible for allocating beds to COVID-19 patients in the BBMP hospitals.

Stating that Tejasvi Surya had only named people from one community in the scam to communalise the issue, the Congress MLA  said, "Have some shame. If you and the BJP government cannot help, at least don't spread the communal position to hide your failures. Arshad claimed that there were 212 people working in that war room but Tejasvi Surya and his party mates read out only 17 Muslim names.

Attacking the BJP for its alleged failure to control the COVID-19 surge due to elections, Rizwan Arshad said, "The entire BJP including you were busy in elections when people were dying on the roads for the lack of Oxygen and ICU beds. People of Karnataka know why this drama is being played out, it's just to shift the blame on everybody possible except the Emporer."

What is the BBMP bed scam?

Earlier on Tuesday, BJP MP Tejasvi Surya claimed that he had unearthed a scam going on in the south BBMP war room. The BBMP war rooms are responsible for allocating reserved COVID-19 beds to patients to call for help. According to the BJP MP, for the last two weeks, anyone who called was told that there was no bed available.

He claimed that there was a nexus between the BBMP officials and outside agents, who were collecting bribes to allot beds reserved under the government quota for COVID-19 patients. The beds would be booked under the name of asymptomatic patients who were in home isolation. Once the bed is booked, it gets blocked for 12 hours and if the patient is not admitted to the hospital by then, the beds automatically get unblocked. In the span of 12 hours, the officials would find a patient who is willing to pay for the hospital bed and once it is unblocked, would re-allot it to the same patient, he said.

It is important to mention here that the BJP is the biggest member of the BBMP, and Bengaluru Mayor Gowtham Kumar is a corporation of the saffron party. During the press conference, held on Tuesday, Tejasvi Surya assured that he had talked to the chief minister and anyone behind the scam would be punished. "I'm meeting the chief minister and whoever is involved should be behind bars. This is nothing less than murder," he said.

(Image: PTI, Twitter: @Tejasvi_surya)