‘Won’t quit, committed no wrong,’ says Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah, facing probe in MUDA case

PTI, Sep 26, 2024, 2:00 PM IST

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah reiterated on Thursday he will not resign as he again denied any wrongdoing in the allotment of 14 sites to his wife by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA).

Terming the charges against him a “BJP conspiracy”, Siddaramaiah said he would wage a legal fight.

A special court here on Wednesday ordered a probe by the Lokayukta police in Mysuru against the Chief Minister in the MUDA site allotment ‘scam’, setting the stage for registering an FIR against him.

Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress President D K Shivakumar also ruled out the possibility of Siddaramaiah stepping down.

Opposition BJP in Karnataka on Thursday staged a protest in front of Mahatma Gandhi statue at Vidhana Soudha, the seat of state legislature and secretariat here, demanding his resignation.

“There is no question of resigning, because I have done no wrong. This (charges against him) is a BJP (conspiracy),” Siddaramaiah told reporters here.

“….did the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi as the then Gujarat CM) resign in the Godhra incident as FIR was done (then)? (H D) Kumaraswamy (JDS leader) is in Narendra Modi’s government, he is on bail, has he given resignation?” the Chief Minister asked. “Have they given resignation? Are they not embarrassed? I will not resign. I will fight legally.” “I won’t resign, let them get Kumaraswamy’s resignation, he is on bail. He is in whose Cabinet, in which government? He should give (resignation first). Did Narendra Modi resign? Despite hundreds of people dying, he did not resign. I have done no wrong, there is no need for me to resign,” he added.

Shivakumar said: “I’m saying that the proposal for the Chief Minister to resign won’t come. This is a political conspiracy by BJP and JD(S). They are unable to digest the benefits of our five guarantee schemes reaching people.” The order of the Special Court Judge, Santhosh Gajanan Bhat, came a day after the High Court upheld the sanction granted by the Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot to conduct an investigation against Siddaramaiah on the allegations of illegalities in the allotment of 14 sites to his wife B M Parvathi by MUDA.

The Special Court exclusively to deal with criminal cases related to former and elected MPs/MLAs issued the order directing the Lokayukta police in Mysuru to initiate an investigation on the complaint filed by RTI activist Snehamayi Krishna of Mysuru.

In the MUDA site allotment case, it is alleged that compensatory sites were allotted to Siddaramaiah’s wife in an upmarket area in Mysuru, which had higher property value as compared to the location of her land which had been “acquired” by the MUDA.

The MUDA had allotted plots to Parvathi under a 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of 3.16 acres of her land, where it developed a residential layout.

Under the controversial scheme, MUDA allotted 50 per cent of developed land to the land losers in lieu of undeveloped land acquired from them for forming residential layouts.

It is alleged that Parvathi had no legal title over this 3.16 acres of land at survey number 464 of Kasare village, Kasaba hobli of Mysuru taluk.