‘I quit Amanath Bank on moral grounds’

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A trained chartered accountant, K. Rahman Khan has proved to be shrewder than his contemporaries in the Congress. Many consider it a rare feat for him to get a fourth term in the Rajya Sabha and subsequently bag a cabinet berth in the Union ministry. During an interview with Deccan Chronicle, he spoke about politics and many more issues. Here are excerpts from an interview.

How did you get the cabinet berth? Did you lobby for it?

Certainly, I did not lobby for anything. I was deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha for eight years. Our party leaders have seen my performance. Not only our party leaders, even members of other parties appreciated my work.

One of the reasons could be that when I was holding that post, my term ended. The Congress, which does not have a majority in the upper House, might have considered it crucial to retain me in the deputy chairman’s post.

You have taken charge of the minority affairs ministry when expectations are very high. One is the issue of giving reservation to minorities which is pending and the other, the recommendations of the Sac­har Committee rep­ort. How do you respond to this challenge?

The Sachar Committee report is being implemented. The committee speaks about elimination of discrimination, setting right the non-equitable distribution of social infrastructure. We have introduced stipend for pre-metric, post-metric and research fellowships.

The banks are bound to provide 15 per cent loans to minorities. Now, we have achieved that. Now, we are preparing to set up an Equal Opportunities Com­m­ission.

The cabinet has already taken a decision on this. Nearly 20-22 major recommendations of the Committee were implemented. Unfortunately, we haven’t got any publicity for this.

Coming to the political situation, many non-political Muslim leaders feel that political leaders from the community have let them down. So, their vote cannot be taken for granted. How do you think the Congress can bank on their votes anymore?

They are right. They want Muslim leaders in the Congress to be more vocal on certain issues like the Assam conflict.

But they also know very well that the Congress is the only party that can take up their cause earnestly. The BJP does not respect them.

The JD (S) puts up a show of sympathy for Muslims. Moreover, Muslims will never forgive JD (S) for helping bring the BJP to power for the first time in Karnataka.

I have a big responsibility in this regard. I will work hard to reach out to community people. I intend to travel across the state to mobilise them.

This time, we have a good chance of coming back to power. Last time, there was some confusion over issuing tickets. If we select good candidates, we will win this time.

Many close to you suggest that you want to become the Muslim face of the Congress in south India. Comment.

I have no ambition. I have never pursued politics as a profession. It is not my fault if I have achieved success with hard work. I never aspired to reach this level. I have not done anything wrong, so God has given me all this.

But, your name is linked to the Amanath Bank scam. The RBI observations were made public recently by Karnataka Minority Commission chairman Anwar Mani­ppady. The observations and allegations against you were very serious in nature.

Comment No observations were made against me. I worked hard to build the bank and take the capital to Rs 300 crore. It is not an easy task.

Are you are referring to the bank lending Rs 4 crore to Delhi Public School? It was the board’s decision. There was no illegality in it.

However, after the RBI sent its report, I stepped aside on moral grounds. Except in one case, validation was done. No illegality was found.

KK Charitable Trust takes a loan from the bank and repays the loan a private company owed to the same bank. Was it right?

The company’s property was with us. It was not doing well. That’s why we had to repay the loan.

But, the internal report given to the board of Amanath Bank held you responsible...
I will challenge it. There should be a concurrant audit into this allegation. I wrote seven letters to the chief minister asking why a concurrant audit was not done. They did not reply. Moreover, in the final audit, my name was not there.

Do you think you will stand the scrutiny of law?

That question does not arise because, the investigation was conducted. It was I who suggested a CID probe. The probe found that the entire board was responsible for this. Accordingly, a chargesheet was filed. Three officers were named. My name is not there.

If that is true, why does your name keep cropping up in connection with the Amanath Bank case?

There are some people in Bengaluru who are jealous of my growth and are keen to spread canards against me.

Who are they?

I cannot name them. For example, when Amanath Bank was superseded by the Karnataka government, Jaffer Sharief (former railway minister) gave advertisements in newspapers claiming that he had succeeded in his campaign. What does it mean? I really do not know. I would not like to say anything more on this. It is a malicious campaign against me.