New Delhi/Bangalore: Prime Minister's Adviser TKA Nair landed in a controversy on Sunday over alleged irregular allotment of two plots of BEML Housing Society in Bangalore to his niece and a friend, a charge which he rubbished saying there was "no irregularity".
Nair said "no irregularity or illegality" was involved in the land allotment by the Defence PSU society "to the best of my knowledge" in the wake of a media report on the issue.
In a statement, Nair said he had sought "all the relevant facts" in the matter even as he dismissed as "absolutely baseless" any linkage to the controversial Tatra truck deal.
BJP said the matter raised in the media report was an "important issue".
"It is an important issue. Our party leaders will meet in the morning tomorrow to discuss the matter and whether to raise it in Parliament," BJP spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad said in New Delhi.
In his statement, Nair said, "My attention has been drawn to media reports about the alleged irregular allotment of residential plots of the Housing Cooperative Society of BEML to my relatives and family friends. To the best of my knowledge no irregularity or illegality was involved in the allotments."
"I have requested the PMO to obtain all the relevant facts of this matter through the Department of Defence Production," he said.
The statement came in the wake of the media report in which it was alleged that the plots were allotted to Nair's niece A Preethy Prabha and family friend Uma Devi Nambiar at "throwaway prices" in BEML society in South Bangalore in 2008.
Reacting to Nair's statement, whistleblower and former BEML employee KS Periyaswamy said "if they (the allotees concerned) had been allotted the sites lawfully, then why did they return them."
"They are not all employees of BEML at any point of time and are totally strangers. There is a nexus deal between VRS Natarajan (BEML Chairman and Managing Director) and TKA Nair," Periyaswamy alleged in Bangalore.
The media report claimed the allotments were made at a time when complaints about the role of Natarajan in the controversial Tatra defence truck deal were pending with the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) besides the Central Vigilance Commission and Ministry of Defence.
Responding to this, Nair said, "the insinuation linking these allotments with the Tatra deal is absolutely baseless".
Periyaswamy alleged that the allotees concerned violated housing society norms at the time of allotment when they did not submit affidavits to the society stating they are bona fide employees of BEML.
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