Assets battle: Brothers stand by ailing George Fernandes
Brothers of former Defence Minister George Fernandes on Saturday rallied behind the ailing socialist leader and denied media reports on the battle over sharing his assets.
They opined that the issue will be resolved if it is distributed to the poor and the needy through George Fernandes Trust.
Speaking to reporters, three of George’s four brothers- trade union leader Michael Fernandes, Aloysius Fernandes and Richard Fernandes, (Paul Fernandes is in Canada) declared that they are not in the battle for the assets but hoped that they would seek an amicable settlement of the entire controversy.
They made it clear that they had come to the media for the sake of George, who is suffering from an illness. They would not associate either with George’s estranged family or with his companion Jaya Jaitley.
Michael Fernandes said, “We are pained to read reports regarding the ‘hidden’ assets of a socialist. The money with George came from sale of property in Bangalore and Nelamangala in Bangalore rural district. It was purchased by our mother in the early 80s. It was sold during the real estate boom in 2007-08. We wanted to have a trust (for this George was party) to help the poor,” he said.
He said George has Rs 13 core with him following sale of property and they had even short listed some of the organisations working for the poor and the needy.
Michael said that 20 hospitals, educational institutions and development related organisations covering areas such as cancer, heart ailments, leprosy, destitute, senior citizens home and technical education were supposed to get the benefit.
