Bangalore:
Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurapa has rubbished the allegations that he and his family had secured "illegal gains" through donations of Rs 27.18 crore made to a trust run by his son.
Responding to JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy's charges, Yeddyurappa said, "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."
Kumaraswamy had alleged that the donations were made in the last two years by various persons and firms, some for favours. He even released documents at a press conference to "expose" Yeddyurappa's corruption.
But Yeddyurappa maintained that he was not connected with it. "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," Yeddyurappa said.
Kumaraswamy alleged that the Trust had been able to raise Rs 27.18 crore in the corpus donation by "misusing the office of the Chief Minister".
"The sons of the Chief Minister, by rendering official favours to the donors, had collected huge donations for the Trust," claimed Kumaraswamy who has been persistently targeting Yeddyurappa over allegations of corruption and nepotism.
JD(S) said in a statement that Kumaraswamy had released the documents in Delhi, copies of which were circulated in Bangalore also.
The Trust had received donations from developers and a public limited mining firm, which had given Rs 10 crore, among others, Kumaraswamy claimed.
It had also received donation of Rs 50 lakh from founder B Y Raghavendra, the Chief Minister's son and MP. Another son, B Y Vijayendra had donated Rs 10 lakh, he alleged.
Kumaraswamy charged that the Chief Minister and his family had favoured a developer and secured illegal gratification of more than Rs 14 crore, which included around Rs five crore to the Trust in return for protection against legal action for encroachment of government tanks and 'nalas' (canals) and for gross violation of norms for their projects.
Yeddyurappa also misused his office to favour the mining company, which had the same management as JSW steel, he charged.
As a result, JSW steel gained substantially, Kumaraswamy alleged.