Bengaluru: Bidar MLA Ashok Kheny joined Congress party on March 5 in a function held at the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) office in Bengaluru. Energy Minister DK Shivakumar, Home Mnister G Parameshwar welcomed the MLA to the party.
Kheny owns the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE), which has built a ring road around Bengaluru city. He is an independent MLA from Bidar South assembly seat in Hyderabad–Karnataka region.
Kheny met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at his residence before proceeding to the KPCC office. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has welcomed Kheny to the Congress despite opposition from many party leaders. Ironically, the Siddaramaiah government had constituted a joint legislative committee to probe allegations of irregularities against Kheny’s company and had even recommended serious criminal action against him just a year ago.
Congress leaders from Bengaluru and the surrounding districts had even demanded jail term for Kheny for allegedly grabbing precious farm lands for his road project. He is also accused of diverting land for private illegal townships along the NICE road, which circles southern and western parts of the city. The NICE “scam” is pegged at over Rs 1 lakh crore.
According to sources in the Chief Minister’s Office, Kheny is likely to get Lingayat and Kuruba votes in Bidar for the party. While Kheny is from the Lingayat community and was once close to BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa, Siddaramaiah is a Kuruba by caste.
The induction offers the BJP and JD(S) yet another opportunity to target the Congress on issues of corruption. A BJP leader alleged that the Congress has inducted Kheny “for his bottomless resources”.
The Congress had faced similar criticism a month ago during party president Rahul Gandhi’s tour of Hyderabad–Karnataka region when it inducted two BJP MLAs close to mining baron Janardhana Reddy.
