BJP's charges against CM are part of conspiracy against Congress govt: Shivakumar

Karnataka deputy chief minister D.K. Shivakumar on Friday, 26 July, charged the BJP with levelling allegations against the chief minister Siddaramaiah in connection with the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment "scam" as part of its "conspiracy" against the Congress government.

“Karnataka is the biggest state for the Congress party. The BJP had never thought that the Congress would win in the state. So they are hatching a conspiracy against the government," Shivakumar, also the state Congress chief, told reporters.

The BJP, along with its NDA ally the JD(S), has proposed to take out next week a "Padayatra" (foot march) from Bengaluru to Mysuru, to press for the resignation of the chief minister over the alleged scam.

"Let them do whatever they want, let them take out as many marches as possible. We will also plan how to counter their campaign,” Shivakumar said.

The opposition BJP and JD(S) have alleged that the MUDA allotted to Chief Minister's wife Parvathi 14 sites whose value was much higher than 3.16 acres of her land which was "acquired" by it to form a residential layout.

Denying any wrongdoing, Siddaramaiah had said these sites were allotted in 2021 when the BJP was in power, adding, his wife had never demanded plots in any particular area.

The chief minister had maintained that the MUDA had encroached on his wife’s property. When he brought the matter to the notice of MUDA officials, they allotted alternative sites in lieu of the illegal acquisition of their land.

Shivakumar maintained that Siddaramaiah had not asked for sites in specific areas.

“Several people (land losers) have got alternative sites. I will not dwell into the way others obtained the alternative sites. The minister concerned will explain it and I am also gathering information. When the chief minister raised it, MUDA offered him alternative land. Whatever happened was within the framework of law,” the deputy chief minister said.

According to him, the MUDA site allotment issue had appeared in the media three years ago but it has been raked up now only to tarnish the image of the chief minister.

Shivakumar alleged that the BJP was "copying the Congress concept of 'Padayatra’." “We have a patent over Padayatra. It was started by Mahatma Gandhi. We carried out ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ (Unite India March). Now the BJP wants to make use of it,” he said.

“The BJP is ‘Sardar (head) of corruption’. They want to expose the scam. Let them do it. We will also lay bare the entire scam,” he said.

Shivakumar said the BJP raising the pitch on the MUDA issue was a ‘publicity stunt’.

He added that the BJP will "fall into the pit it has dug for others" by taking out the march.

He claimed that the MUDA scam had taken place during the previous BJP government. “Now the BJP leaders have decided to take out a march. We also will expose their scam explaining who got how many sites."

BJP leaders have claimed that the MUDA "scam" is of the magnitude of Rs 4000 crore to Rs 5,000 crore.