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Stay out of business till I'm Karnataka chief

minister, Siddaramaiah tells sonBangalore Mirror Bureau | May 15, 2016, 03.19 PM IST

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BENGALURU: Facing as he is a fiery attack of nepotism charges,

chief minister Siddaramaiah has issued a diktat to his sons: "No

doing any business till I am in power".

The instruction from the father comes in the backdrop of the allegation

that a tender at the government-owned Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru wasgiven to Matrix Imaging Solutions Private Limited, a diagnostic

laboratories chain in which Siddaramaiah's second son Dr Yathindra is a

director. Siddaramaiah's political detractors had charged him of abusing

his office to award the tender, and have lodged a complaint to the effect

with the newly set up anti-corruption bureau.

The controversy resurfaced on Saturday during a press conference convened by Siddaramaiah to speak about his

achievements in the last three years as the state's CM. Reacting to a poser on why Dr Yathindra quit Matrix Imaging Solutions

if he had done no wrong, Siddaramaiah said: "I advised my son to quit. It was not because that he had violated rules but

because I did not want him to be doing business in any company till the time I am in power."

However, he defended awarding of the said tender to Matix Solutions by stating: "My son is a doctor. He is a professional. He is

a member of Matrix and they had participated in the tender called by the government and emerged as L1 (lowest bidder).

Where is the question of violation in this case?" Continuing with the defence, Siddaramaiah said: "He (Dr Yathindra) is anindependent man. He is 36 years old and pays income tax. He is doing business and in the normal course, his company landed

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the contract as the L1.There were no violations here."

Siddaramaiah maintained that the opposition BJP was making frivolous and baseless allegations against him as they cannot

tolerate his pro-people administration. Comparing his current stint with the BJP's five-year rule, Siddaramaiah said: "We have

made honest attempts to give a transparent and corruption-free governance. Not a single minister in our cabinet has gone to jail or obtained a bail so far."