H N Ananth Kumar says the Supreme Court must order an inquiry into how Aadhaar bypassed into
Anisha Sheth | March 28, 2014 | 8.40 am IST
National General Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its candidate for Bangalore South H N Ananth Kumar spoke to The News Minute about the upcoming elections and some of the controversies involving him. Kumar, who is five-time Member of Parliament from Bangalore South takes on Nandan Nilekani of the Congress and Nina P Nayak of the Aad Aadmi Party when Karnataka goes to polls on April 17. An edited excerpt of the interview:
Nandan Nilekani has filed a complaint with the Election Commission and the Press Council of India, alleging that you are lying about the claims of Aadhar.
What we have said about Aadhaar is fact and the truth. Aadhaar has no Parliamentary sanction and it has been rejected by the Parliamentary Standing Committee, raising the issue of national security. The Parliamentary Standing Committee has more than 16 UPA members and out of these many have supported (what we have been saying)… It (UIDAI) gives Aadhaar to non-citizens like Bangladeshi immigrants, Pakistan nationals and many intruders. We have also said that bio-metrics are a question mark. The Supreme Court has upheld what we are saying. It’s a huge waste of money (for a) futile exercise which the UK, US and Australia have abandoned.
But Aadhaar was a project initiated by the UPA government, how can you hold him alone responsible for the project?
No we hold UPA (responsible) also. (But Nilekani has said) he will take credit, but not responsibility. You are directly responsible. There should be an inquiry into the whole thing (on how the law bypassed Parliamentary sanction)… suitable action should be taken and no matter how high someone is, guilty should be punished. Just because someone is so-and-so, they should not be above the law.
How is your relationship with former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa?
What the media has been saying (calling me Yeddyurappa’s) bête-noire, arch-rival… We (Yeddyurappa and I) have been friends of the last three decades and we are going to continue to be friends. Yes, there were political differences before the last Assembly elections, but that never affected our mutual personal friendship. In every organization it happens, there will be political differences of opinion about style and approach.
You have often been blamed for creating differences in the state unit of the BJP. Your response:
I have been working in the party for 24 years. I have been the State General Secretary and state President (of the BJP Yuva Morcha). I made the party win 84 seats in the 2004 elections and for that I left my Cabinet post. I created an atmosphere of unity and camaraderie. All the allegations about division mean nothing. The media has reported that Ananth Kumar is a consensus-builder, a trouble-shooter, problem-solver. Everywhere I have gone, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgrah, I have united people. That is the track record.”
AAP candidate Nina Nayak has been saying that you are only talking about Gujarat Chief Minister and the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s achievements.
We are talking about Bangalore also, as I told you earlier. It is a teamwork. Both Modi and AK are complimentary.
Pramod Muthalik has blamed you for his removal from the party.
I am in the central leadership. When there is a wrong move being done (by the state party), it is the duty of the central party to correct it.
But why was the central leadership not consulted?
Sometimes mistakes do happen. In life and in politics.
In an interview to a newspaper you say that the BJP has learned its lesson from the last Assembly elections and that the BJP's vote share was divided when the party split. you say: "The immediate solution is to close ranks and bring them back. We have done that, nothing wrong." Does this mean you are ok with bringing people who have allegations of corruption against them, into the party?
The court should say (that the charges are significant). Mere allegations cannot mean anything. There is a law for elections who will be banned and who will not (be banned).
What about allegations made against you in the PIL filed in the Supreme Court over your handling of HUDCO?
Where is the scam? The entire allegation is baseless and untrue, politically motivated. HUDCO has performed best under my tenure. Best in every sense of the term. I want to know from my detractors, where is the scam? How many charge-sheeted, how many arrests, how many people there were proceedings against. If there is none, then you have the answer.