Congress senior leaders Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Kapil Sibal during a press conference.
Credit: PTI Photo
Bengaluru: A day after Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot sanctioned the prosecution of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over the alleged Mysore Urban Development Authority scam, two eminent lawyers -- Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi -- are likely to hold detailed discussions with the chief minister on fighting the case legally.
The arrival of the Supreme Court lawyers assumes significance with the Congress deciding to fight the prosecution “politically and legally”.
A senior leader close to the CM told DH, “Sibal has confirmed his arrival on Monday, while Singhvi may land in Bengaluru on Monday afternoon or evening since he is in Hyderabad to file his nomination for the Rajya Sabha seat.”
“The CM will hold meetings with these legal luminaries separately and in fact, there is a lot of pressure from some members of the civil society to approach another Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan, but the decision in this regard is yet to be taken,” the source added.
Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge, without taking names, dropped hints that constitutional experts will be flown into Bengaluru.
“We will tackle it. We have the best constitutional experts being flown in. We have a lot of people within the state who are helping the state government with this and we will take it up,” Kharge said, without elaborating.
As part of strengthening its political fight against the BJP-JD(S), the chief minister has also convened a Congress Legislature Party meeting on Thursday (August 22) to discuss future course of action with his MLAs and seek their cooperation in fighting the case.
A statement released by the CM’s office mentions that the legislature party meeting will be convened at the Conference Hall of the Vidhana Soudha on Thursday. After the meeting, the CM is likely to go to Delhi on August 23 and brief the high command on the developments.
While reiterating the party’s stand on launching state-wide protests condemning the Governor’s sanction, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar told reporters that Congress leaders will organise kilometre-long marches to taluk and district offices to submit memorandums addressed to President Droupadi Murmu.
Accusing the Governor of making a case out of nothing, Shivakumar argued that this is a murder of democracy and the party will protest against this.
“It is our duty to fight against it. We have instructed our party leaders to carry out peaceful protests and ensure that anti-social elements don’t infiltrate the rallies and create trouble,” he asserted.
The alleged scam relates to the allotment of sites to Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathi in an upmarket area in Mysuru against the alleged ‘illegal acquisition’ of her land measuring three acres, 16 guntas in Kesare village on the outskirts of Mysuru.