Realtors, miners chief patrons of political parties, says Cong MLA

Congress MLA Ramesh Kumar on Friday said that people involved in real estate, mining, quarrying, sand mining business and education mafia were the chief patrons for all political parties.

“Our party leaders took out a padayatra to Ballari against Janardhana Reddy. At the same time, Y S Rajashekar Reddy of the Congress was lobbying for Janardhana Reddy in Delhi. We never know who would favour whom,” he said sarcastically, in the Legislative Assembly on Friday.

The comments came when BJP leader Jagadish Shettar was speaking on violation of rules in denotification of land and extending mining leases.

When Shettar said that the Congress government was trying to favour certain mining firms, Kumar asked to name those who had been benefitted by such deals. Intervening at this point, BJP MLA Jagadish Kumar said that private firms pay ‘facilitation fee’ in return for the favour they get from the government. Kumar said it is also known as “service charge, purse presentation and donation.”

Ramesh Kumar insisted Shettar to release documents in the House to prove that Siddaramaiah had committed irregularities. “You are a smart politician. You have enjoyed the posts of the Speaker, revenue minister and chief minister. You must reveal the details of scams which you are mentioning. We do not want to encourage a corrupt chief minister. If we know the truth, we can question him,” he said. However, Shettar said that inquiry should throw more light into the irregularities.