Being targeted as I am from backward class, says CM Siddaramaiah on MUDA scam

Mysuru (Karnataka), July 11 (IANS) Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday said that he was being targeted as he belongs to a backward class and yet became the CM a second time in Karnataka.

He said this in Mysuru to the media while reacting to his alleged involvement in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) land scam.

"Everyone is upset because, despite being from a backward class, I became Chief Minister for the second term...they are burning and hatching a conspiracy," said CM Siddaramaiah, who described the allegations against him as political.

When asked about the protest organised by the BJP against the MUDA land scam in his native Mysuru, CM Siddaramaiah said, “We have ordered a probe. The BJP is taking the issue politically. We will also deal with it politically.”

Answering a question on BJP's state chief B.Y. Vijayendra's protest in Mysuru, the CM said, “Let the BJP National President J.P. Nadda also do it. If they do it, we will also certainly deal with it politically. We also know how to counter it politically.”

CM Siddaramaiah further said that those who make charges should explain where illegal activities have occurred. “I am claiming it as legal when they claim it as illegal. They have to show and prove it. Before conversion, it was agricultural land. Conversion happened in 2005, the DC converted it, and I have no connection. Mallikarjunaswamy is my brother-in-law, and he has legally gifted it. Where is the illegality?”

“Suppose it is mentioned as agricultural land, though it is developed into a layout, is it a great offence?” CM Siddaramaiah said.

“Until 2010, after conversion, it was a farmland until it was gifted. Afterwards, in 2014, MUDA illegally acquired it, and sites were formed and distributed. Should I just let it go? Compensation has been sought. They have not sought it in a particular locality. BJP was in power in 2021. The allotment was made during the BJP rule, and they are making an issue now,” CM Siddaramaiah claimed.

“In a similar case, one Sundaramma approached the high court on this matter. The court fined MUDA Rs 1 lakh and directed authorities to grant land. If the mistake was committed during the BJP rule, who is responsible for this? We had not asked for it. When their government was in place, how was Siddaramaiah responsible then?” he said.

“They are highlighting my claim of getting Rs 62 crore compensation. As per rules, the compensation amount has to be three times more now,” he stated.

Replying to a question on social activist T.J. Abraham’s complaint to the Election Commission of India (ECI) in this regard, CM Siddaramaiah said that whenever the Commission seeks clarification, he is ready to provide answers.

T.J. Abraham, President of Karnataka Anti-Graft and Environmental Forum, has appealed to the ECI to initiate proceedings against the Chief Minister by filing a criminal complaint and also to take necessary action under Section 125 A and Section 8 of the Representation of People’s Act and under sections 227, 229, 231, and 236 of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita for filing a false affidavit, along with nomination papers during the 2013 Assembly election, to uphold the law.

The Chief Minister is facing allegations of fabricating documents regarding a piece of 3.16 acres of land in his wife's name and fraudulently getting 14 sites worth Rs 2 crore each allotted by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA). The state BJP is demanding his resignation and will organise a large-scale protest in Mysuru on Friday.