MP Tejasvi Surya blames Cong for giving alleged bed scam a 'communal twist'

Bengaluru south MP Tejasvi Surya on Monday claimed that even before he went to the COVID-19 war room to expose the irregularities where he questioned the basis behind the appointment of 16 Muslims, the private agency, which got the contract to operate the COVID war room and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials had removed them from the job.

Bengaluru: Bengaluru south MP Tejasvi Surya on Monday alleged a conspiracy was hatched by the Congress and its 'eco-system' to derail the efforts to streamline bed allocation in government and private hospitals for COVID-19 patients.

Surya, who is the BJP Yuva Morcha president recently "exposed" the alleged scam pertaining to the blocking of beds in the hospitals for COVID patients.

He, however, came in for severe criticism, especially former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, for allegedly giving the issue a communal colour for seeking to know from the government officials how 16 Muslims got a job in the COVID war room in a live stream programme.

Clarifying his position today, Surya said, "While I was making an effort to save thousands of people from irregularities in booking hospital beds by exposing and

fixing the loopholes."

"When we were making public a serious issue in which the High Court and the Lokayukta took upon its own cognisance, the Congress party and its eco-system tried to divert the issue by telling lies after lies," Surya said.

He held the press conference to explain the introduction of new mobile application-based technology for booking beds in the hospital for COVID treatment.

He claimed that even before he went to the COVID-19 war room to expose the irregularities where he questioned the basis behind the appointment of 16 Muslims, the private agency, which got the contract to operate the COVID war room and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials had removed them from the job.

"Those Muslims were removed by them (employment firm and the civic agency). This is not me who is saying this but the BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta," Surya explained.

The MP stated that a senior BBMP official gave him the list of 16 Muslims who were removed after the restructuring of the war room workforce.

"I had only asked how these people (16 Muslims) were appointed, which agency recruited them but I never said they were culprits or they belonged to a particular community or faith," Surya explained.

To a question on one of the MLAs accompanying him asked the BBMP officials that they wanted to convert the war room into a Madrassa, Surya said he is answerable for what he had said and not others.

The MP explained that the new technological intervention would do away with any middleman, bribe or influence of powerful people as it would auto-upgrade the status of the COVID patient seeking treatment through the government quota.

He said in the next 100 hours, he would upgrade the system making it further foolproof.