Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot has given permission to prosecute Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in connection with the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) land allotment ‘scam’. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has targeted him on this. On the approval of prosecution, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that the decision of the Governor of Karnataka is against the Constitution and against the law. It will be challenged in the court. He said that I have not done anything wrong that I have to resign. BJP, JD (S) and others have conspired to remove the democratically elected government.
Let us tell you that a senior Raj Bhavan official told ‘PTI-Bhasha’ that the Governor has approved the prosecution against the Chief Minister. This decision is based on three petitions filed by TJ Abraham, Pradeep and Snehamayi Krishna. The Governor’s Secretariat informed Pradeep Kumar SP, TJ Abraham and Snehamayi Krishna about the decision of the authority on the request for sanction of prosecution against Siddaramaiah for the alleged offenses mentioned in the petition under Section 17 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 and Section 218 of the Indian Civil Defense Code 2023.
Following the governor’s decision, a special meeting of the state cabinet has been called at 5 pm on Saturday. According to official and Congress sources, the chief minister will fight a legal battle against the governor’s sanction for prosecution. Siddaramaiah has said several times that if the governor rejects the cabinet’s advice to withdraw the “show cause notice” issued to him and allows prosecution, the Congress government led by him is ready to fight legally and politically. Based on a petition filed by advocate-activist TJ Abraham, Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot had issued a “show cause notice” on July 26, directing the chief minister to respond to the allegations leveled against him and explain why prosecution should not be allowed against him.
The Karnataka government had on August 1 “advised” the governor to withdraw the “show cause notice” issued to the chief minister. It had accused the governor of “gross abuse of constitutional office”. It is alleged that Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathy was allotted a compensatory plot in Mysuru whose property value was higher than that of her land which was “acquired” by MUDA. MUDA had allotted the plots to Parvathy under the 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of her 3.16 acre land.