Mangaluru: Reacting to the allegations of drug scam made by BJP leader and former BBMP corporator N R Ramesh, Health Minister U T Khader said that if found guilty in the case, he will retire from politics forever.

Addressing a press conference at Circuit House, Mangaluru, he said that, all the allegations were baseless. Ramesh hasn’t had any knowledge about what record says.

“Some people in politics have that bad habit of seeking attention of public. This also is a same attempt. N R Ramesh is trying to defame the Ministry. If I’m found guilty then I’ll resign from the post of Health Minister and retire from politics,” he said.

He further said that, the National Health Mission (NHM) fund will be released to BBMP. Managing the funds and buying medicines is BBMP’s job. The Health Ministry cannot interfere in it.

“As soon as the allegations were made I collected all the documents and examined them. Action will be taken by Mayor of BBMP. As many as 81 certified companies are participating in e-tender. Ramesh has alleged that there are 15 non existing companies in the list. If such companies do exist, then let him tell the name of those companies. All the 81 companies are certified by the Drug Control Authority.

He continued saying that Ramesh had alleged that the drugs were purchased at a cost of more than Rs 543 crore, but the cost of purchasing drugs for the entire state is Rs 150 crore. According to the allegations we are saving more than Rs 300 crore per year.

Commenting on Yettinahole project he said that, the project is approved in the Assembly. It wont be stopped at any cost. The only authority which can stop the project is the Central Forest and Environmental Ministry.

“If Janardhan Poojary would have been the MP of Dakshina Kannada, then he would have tried his level best to stop this project,” he added.