Basavaraj Bommai accuses Karnataka govt of attempting to politically finish BJP MLA Yatnal

BENGALURU: Former Chief Minister and Haveri-Gadag MP Basavaraj Bommai has alleged that the state’s Pollution Control Board was not granting permission to a sugar factory of BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal in an attempt to politically finish him.

Speaking to the media after participating in the protest led by Basanagouda Patil Yatnal against the “injustice” by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board here on Wednesday, Bommai alleged that law and justice have died in the state, and politics of hatred is being practiced.

“Basanagouda Patil Yatnal established the sugar factory in accordance with the law, but last year, the Pollution Control Board did not grant permission to his factory. Yatnal approached the court, and the court ordered the factory to be reopened within four weeks. However, the Board is citing technical reasons and refusing to grant permission. This is an attempt to politically finish Basanagouda Patil Yatnal”, Bommai said.

Basanagouda Patil Yatnal staging a protest inside the KSPCB office in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

The MP alleged that the Pollution Control Board is showing great bias by granting permission to several other sugar factories while discriminating against Yatnal’s factory.

Bommai said that the KSPCB has granted permission to factories that violated the law. He said that thousands of farmers are dependent on Yatnal’s factory, and this year a large amount of sugarcane has been cultivated in that region, so the factory needs to be opened. The government talks about bringing industries to North Karnataka on one hand but engages in such politics on the other, he alleged. (ANI)