'ISI funding BJP via Reddy brothers'
Senior Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam launched a scathing attack on the BJP on Tuesday, alleging that the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI “is funding the main opposition party through the companies owned by Reddy brothers of Karnataka”.
Senior Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam launched a scathing attack on the BJP on Tuesday, alleging that the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI “is funding the main opposition party through the companies owned by Reddy brothers of Karnataka”.
“It is a matter of record that the company owned by Reddy brothers, Obalapuram, has a number of subsidiaries in Dubai and Singapore through which they export iron ores to various steel factories in China and Pakistan,” he claimed.
“The ownership of these Pakistan-based companies is always ambiguous and on occasions the ISI is found owning them. Many a times, the business houses in Pakistan are found funding the ISI and its activities,” alleged Nirupam, Congress secretary in-charge of Karnataka.
“It is an established fact that Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa and his ministers Janardhan Reddy, Karunakar Reddy and others are earning a lot of money through illegal export of iron ore and subsequently sending funds to the BJP top brass in Delhi. So it is pertinent to carry out a comprehensive inquiry to ascertain how much money was given by the ISI-owned steel factories to the Karnataka BJP leaders,” he alleged.
Nirupam, a Lok Sabha MP from Mumbai-North, has been very vocal on the issue of illegal mining in Karnataka. During discussions on demands for grants of mining ministry in the Lok Sabha in the last budget session, he had attacked the BJP and Reddy brothers on the issue of illegal mining of iron ore.
Nirupam told HT that he would soon write a letter to home minister P Chidambaram, requesting him to look into the matter and find out the “illicit financial relationship between the BJP and the ISI.”