CM's son changes stand, to quit firm on Monday

After dilly-dallying for the last two days on quitting as director of Matrix Imaging Solutions India, Yathindra, the pathologist son of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, has decided to leave the company.

His decision follows a strong message from Digvijaya Singh, the Congress general secretary in charge of the party’s affairs in Karnataka, that he must come out of the company. Dr Yathindra is a director of Matrix, a diagnostics company that was awarded the contract to set up a super-speciality pathological lab at the PMSSY hospital located on the Victoria Hospital premises in Bengaluru. The Opposition has accused the chief minister of nepotism over the matter.

Responding to a text message sent by Deccan Herald, Dr Yathindra said he would resign as director of Matrix after returning to Bengaluru. “I will hand over (my) resignation once I am back in Bangalore,” he responded. When asked about his whereabouts and when will he return to the city, he said he would resign on Monday. But he didn’t answer where he was. Earlier too, Dr Yathindra declared that he would quit the firm but changed his mind after seeking legal opinion.

Siddaramaiah and Medical Education Minister Dr Sharanprakash Patil had claimed that there was nothing wrong in Matrix getting the contract as the tender process had been duly followed. Even Dr P G Girish, special officer of the PMSSY hospital, had said that the tender would not be cancelled.