Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday denied any illegality in the allotment of sites to his wife by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) even as Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka demanded a CBI probe into the ‘scam’ pegged at Rs 4,000 crore.
The MUDA allotted plots to Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathi in a 50:50 ratio, which meant that she got half the land back in the form of developed plots. This was in lieu of 3.16 acres of her land used to form a layout in 1997.
Krishnaraja BJP MLA TS Srivatsa was the first to flag MUDA for the “huge fraud” in the allotment of sites. Apparently, 4,500-5,000 sites were allotted by flouting norms, causing losses of over Rs 4,000 crore. Urban Development Minister BS Suresha (Byrathi) has ordered a probe.
“The allotment happened when the BJP was in power,” Siddaramaiah specified.
“My wife owned 3.16 acres of land next to the ring road at Kesare. She got it as a gift from her brother. Without acquiring our land, MUDA made sites on it and sold them. Shouldn’t we legally get land in lieu of that,” Siddaramaiah asked.
“We were deprived of our land, which became MUDA property. We were told that they would give us land in the 50:50 ratio, which was done as per law,” he said. “And this 50:50 ratio was decided by the BJP.”
Ashoka said either the CBI should probe this or a judicial commission should investigate. “This is nothing but a scam,” he said, adding that it happened in Siddaramaiah’s native Mysuru district. “Golmaal CM Siddaramaiah, how do you justify the transfer of land illegally in the name of your wife,” Ashoka asked.
Senior BJP leader CT Ravi said his party will raise the issue in the upcoming monsoon session of the legislature.
Meanwhile, the government on Tuesday shunted out MUDA Commissioner GT Dinesh Kumar and Secretary GD Shekhar, replacing them with Raghunandan AN and Prasanna Kumar VK, respectively.
Quote - "The allotment happened when the BJP was in power... My wife owned 3.16 acres of land next to the ring road at Kesare. Without acquiring our land MUDA made sites on it and sold them. Shouldn’t we legally get land in lieu of that?" CM Siddaramaiah