JOIN USI’ll hang myself in front of Vidhana Soudha: V Somanna
Housing Minister V Somanna vowed to "hang himself in front of Vidhana Soudha" during a heated debate in the Legislative Assembly where he locked horns with the Congress's Eshwar Khandre over alleged irregularities.
During a debate on the motion of thanks for the Governor’s address, Khandre, who represents Bhalki in Bidar, attacked the government over the delay in releasing instalments for beneficiaries selected under various housing schemes.
“Based on GPS, we found people having built farmhouses and cattle sheds. They aren’t poor people. In Bhalki, over 16,000 homes were sanctioned and 43% of them are bogus. The sanction letter is to be given by the PDO. In Bhalki, however, the MLA has given the letter ahead of elections and got Rs 30,000-40,000 instalment released,” Somanna said.
An inquiry was ordered and six PDOs are under suspension, Somanna said.
An angry Khandre refuted this and said Somanna was targeting him for political reasons. “In the garb of an inquiry, the government doesn’t want to release the money to beneficiaries,” he said. “You have appointed a corrupt officer Mahadeva Prasad at the Rajiv Gandhi Housing Corporation and you are doing this,” he said, adding that Somanna’s department was deep in corruption.
According to Khandre, beneficiaries who have built homes below the stipulated 250 sqft area were declared as ineligible. “The government is recovering money from them. How just is this?” he said.
Both got personal and levelled allegations against each other. At one point, Somanna said he was "an open book" and that he was ready to "hang himself in front of Vidhana Soudha" if he had erred.
Khandre said he would resign if it was proved that he had issued the sanction orders.