Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has clearly said that he will not resign in the land scam case. He said that wrong action has been taken in the site allocation case of Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA). His reaction came when a special court ordered the Lokayukta to investigate the matter. After this order, the Chief Minister’s troubles may increase and an FIR can be registered against him.
The Chief Minister called the case a conspiracy of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and said that he would fight the legal battle. The special court’s order against Siddaramaiah has cleared the way for filing an FIR against him. Lokayukta officials have said that they are reviewing the court’s order and will soon take a decision on filing an FIR.
After this issue escalated, the opposition BJP has demanded resignation from Siddaramaiah. On this, Siddaramaiah said, “Did the Prime Minister resign after the Godhra riots when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat? HD Kumaraswamy, who is now a minister at the Center, also has corruption charges against him. Will he resign?” He insisted, “I will not resign. I will fight the legal battle. I have not done anything wrong, so I do not need to resign.”
On the other hand, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has also ruled out the possibility of Siddaramaiah’s resignation. On Wednesday, the special court ordered the Lokayukta to submit a report in three months and directed to register an FIR.
A day earlier, the Karnataka High Court dismissed Siddaramaiah’s petition challenging the Governor’s approval. The court said that the Governor can take independent decisions in special circumstances and his order was not issued without thinking. The Governor had approved the investigation in this case in July after a complaint by three social activists. Siddaramaiah had challenged the approval of the investigation under section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act and section 218 of the Indian Civil Security Code.
The Mysuru Urban Development Authority case alleges that Siddaramaiah’s wife BM Parvathy was allotted plots under a 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of her 3.16 acres of land where the authority had developed a residential layout. Under the controversial scheme, the Mysuru Urban Development Authority allotted 50 per cent of the developed land in lieu of undeveloped land acquired from land losers to build residential layouts. It is alleged that Parvathy had no legal right over this 3.16 acres of land in survey number 464 of Kasare village in Kasaba hobli of Mysuru taluk.