Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Credit: DH File Photo
Bengaluru: Reiterating its demand for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s resignation for his alleged role in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment scam, the BJP on Friday came with documents to prove that the saffron party had no role in formulating the contentious 50:50 rule.
Addressing a press meet at the Karnataka BJP headquarters Bengaluru, Chief Whip of the saffron party in the Legislative Council N Ravi Kumar furnished, what he described as the report of a technical committee, minutes and an audio clip of MUDA meetings, besides the claim application submitted by the CM’s wife, Parvathi, to take possession of the alternative sites. Kumar said that in the light of these revelations, Siddaramaiah must resign, and entrust the probe of the scam to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), besides returning the sites that his wife was given by MUDA.
Kumar pointed out that the Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government in 2021 constituted a technical committee to review and submit a report on MUDA’s site allotment policies. “In its report, the committee recommended that the government stop allotting alternative sites since it was leading undue favouritism, besides causing loss to MUDA,” Kumar added.
The audio clip, coupled with the minutes of the MUDA meeting convened in September 2020, reveal that the development agency had decided against acting on the proposal of acquiring land to form layouts under the 50:50 rule. “The BJP had no role whatsoever in awarding the 14 alternative sites in the CM’s wife’s case, which Siddaramaiah has often claimed,” the BJP’s Chief Whip added.
Kumar also sought to draw attention to another document, which showed that the 50:50 rule came into force in 2015 at MUDA, at a time when Siddaramaiah was the CM. “This order was cancelled by the BJP in 2020. Siddaramaiah often makes false claims. He needs to resign as the CM, and hand over the case to CBI,” Kumar added.