Karnataka Congress goes after Kumaraswamy, Yediyurappa in denotification case

Bengaluru: The ruling Congress in Karnataka on Thursday asked the Lokayukta to expedite its investigation against former chief ministers H D Kumaraswamy and B S Yediyurappa for denotification of land in Bengaluru.

The party deployed three ministers -- Krishna Byre Gowda, Dinesh Gundu Rao and Santhosh Lad -- to release documents at a news conference on the denotification of 1.11 acres of land at Gangenahalli, Kasaba hobli in Bengaluru North.

Gowda said land measuring 1.11 acres was acquired by the BDA for a layout in 1976 and the acquisition process was completed in 1977.

"In 2007, when H D Kumaraswamy was the chief minister, one Rajashekharaiah - he's a benaami - gave a petition seeking denotification of this land, which was acquired 30 years ago. This Rajashekharaiah has nothing to do with this land. We still don't know who it is," Gowda said.

Gowda said Kumaraswamy asked officials to move a file on this. "Meanwhile, the original owner of this land had 21 heirs, who gave a general power of attorney to Kumaraswamy's mother-in-law," he said.

Then, when Yediyurappa was the CM in 2010, he sought the same file. "Then principal secretary (urban development) K Jothiramalingam noted on the file that this was not a fit case for denotification. Still, Yediyurappa ordered denotification. Accordingly, the land was denotified in June 2010," Gowda said.

After denotification, the ministers said that the land was registered in the name of Kumaraswamy's brother-in-law Channappa in July 2010.

"Call it coincidence or a pre-planned illegality," Gowda said. "The land costs several crores. It is an asset that belonged to BDA. It should have been used for the poor. Is this right or wrong? Is this legal or illegal? Isn't this systematic fraud?" he said.

Rao said Yediyurappa had challenged Lokayukta's investigation into this case. "But the High Court disposed of his plea and imposed a fine of Rs 25,000, allowing the Lokayukta to go ahead with its probe in 2021. It's been three years. We're concerned over the delay. The Lokayukta must take this seriously. It's an open-and-shut case. If investigation is done, both Kumaraswamy and Yediyurappa will get caught," he said.

Lad admitted that there was a delay in Congress raking up the issue. "We're sorry. But let there be action now," he said.

The three ministers pointed out that Kumaraswamy and the BJP were going after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the MUDA case. "There's no conclusive evidence against Siddaramaiah," they said.