Union Minister of Steel and Heavy Industries H D Kumaraswamy.
Credit: PTI Photo
Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries H D Kumaraswamy on Friday took an indirect swipe at Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar saying that the MUDA site allotment scam was exposed by a ‘person who’s eyeing the chief minister’s post’.
“The CD factory is closed. Now, the MUDA factory has been opened. Why was the scam not exposed earlier? Why now? The person, who thinks that the CM’s post is reserved for him, is behind the MUDA scam exposure,” Kumaraswamy told reporters during his visit to Chamundeshwari Temple here.
Kumaraswamy said that a section of the Congress leaders was behind it (exposing the site allotment scam).
“This is a conspiracy within the Congress to unseat the chief minister by hiring a team of lawyers and extracting documents from MUDA. This is an attempt to trap the chief minister,” he alleged.
“Let Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is demanding a compensation of Rs 62 crore from MUDA, first provide compensation to the hapless famers who have lost lands. In the name of development, lands of a large number of farmers have been acquired across Karnataka. The farmers have become landless and jobless. You seek compensation in crores, while the farmers are languishing. You have already got 14 prime residential sites from MUDA. Now, you are asking for compensation,” Kumarswamy charged.
The JD(S) leader said that how his (Siddaramaiah’s) wife got the land and that he would reveal it at an opportune time.
Replying to a query on the CM legal adviser’s defense on the scam, Kumaraswamy said, “CM’s legal advisor A S Ponnanna has now become MLA. He is indebted to the CM. So, he speaks at length supporting the CM. It was his idea to seek compensation to counter the allegation.”