Strangely, Yeddyurappa has successfully defended the Bellary Reddys who have faced serious charges of illegal mining from both the opposition parties. But, now he is finding it tough to protect himself on allegations of wrong-doing in relation to his sons’ land deals.
Taking advantage of the Chief Minister’s plight, disgruntled MLAs and grumbling cabinet ministers have begun dissident activities.
Illegal mining scam, as per the Lokayukta report, runs to the tune of several thousand crores of rupees.
Besides, around Rs 4,000 crore worth seized iron ore was illegally shipped out of Belekere port a few months ago.
The Opposition Congress took out a 15-day padayatra in August against illegal mining to Bellary.
The week-old storm over murky land dealings involving hundreds of crores of rupees in Bangalore, has the Government so hard, that for the first time in a year, the stability of the government appears to be affected.
Charges of the alleged direct involvement of Chief Minister Yeddyurappa and his family in land denotification scams has not only embarrassed the ruling BJP, but handicapped the party from defending its own leader. The Opposition JD(S) has been releasing documents pertaining to alleged illegal denotifications done by Yeddyurappa in batches. The chief minister’s action in denotifying 7.5 acres land in Rachenahalli in Bangalore East taluk and 5.13 acres in Nagarabhavi may weaken his hold on his party and the government, and certainly in disciplining his Cabinet colleagues, considering that his actions appear to have been aimed at helping his two sons, B Y Raghavendra and B Y Vijayendra, to own valuable lands in and around Bangalore. More of such scams are likely to tumble down in coming days.
Documents made available to the media shows that Yeddyurappa went ahead with his denotifications despite the officials repeatedly suggesting him from doing so. And, interestingly, the Chief Minister has not denied any of these allegations.
Scam-tainted ministers
The Chief Minister is not alone under the cloud of land scams. One of his close-confidants, Katta Subramanya Naidu, is neck-deep into the alleged illegal compensation scam in the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB), which runs to the tune of over Rs 100 crore.
Naidu’s son, Katta Jagadish, is already behind the bars for allegedly trying to bribe one of witnesses in the scam.
Industries minister
Now, Industry Minister Murugesh Nirani is new target of allegations, that he allegedly collected kickbacks from industrialists for allotting land under KIADB. Besides, the Chief Minister has also allotted hundreds of BDA sites under G category to MLAs and MPs as per the whims and fancies.
Illegal land dealings have already taken its toll on the BJP Government. S N Krishnaiah Setty, the then Housing Minister, was forced to quit after he allegedly helped his family members sell vast stretches of land to the Karnataka Housing Board at exorbitant rate.
-6 ministers and 7 MLAs leave for Chennai early morning
- CM discusses situation with party president K S Eshwarappa and loyal ministers.
- CM and Eshwarappa meet RSS functionaries for guidance
- Ministers R Ashoka, B Sriramulu and Basavaraj Bommai, MP G M Siddeshwar leave for
Chennai to hold talks with dissidents
- CM holds meeting with senior officers
- BJP core committee meets in the evening
- Yeddyurappa says all is well and invites all party legislators for dinner to his place.
Dissidents
- Ministers: M P Renukacharya, Shivaraj Thangadagi, M P Narendraswamy, Venkataramanappa, D Sudhakar & Anand Asnotikar.
- Legislators: Goolihatti Shekar and Shivanagouda Naik (recently sacked as ministers), B Harish, Dr Sarvabhouma Bagali, Y Sampangi, Nanjundaswamy, Nagaraj and Belur Gopalakrishna.