Shikaripur, September 11: Former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa has accused JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda and the party’s State unit president H D Kumaraswamy of looting government properties in Bangalore when they were in power.
He was reacting to Kumaraswamy’s recent statement that Yeddyurappa was the most corrupt politician in the State.
“Let Kumaraswamy release documents to prove that I am corrupt. I will also release documents to prove my allegations against him. Deve Gowda had allegedly converted the land meant for a park in Mysore into 70 sites and had allotted them to his family members during his tenure. So, JD(S) has no right to speak about me.”
Referring to Congress legislature party leader Siddaramaiah’s planned visit to the taluk on September 11, Yeddyurappa said, “What can he tell the people? I had released Rs 40 crore for the development of Kaginele (birthplace of saint Kanakadasa) during my tenure as chief minister. How much funds did he allot during his tenure as finance minister?” he said.
Commenting about the issue of bagair hukum cultivators, he said, “We are ready to protect the interests of bagair hukum cultivators. We can take an all-party delegation (comprising Deve Gowda, Kumaraswamy and Kagodu Thimmappa) to New Delhi and urge the Centre to amend the Forest Rights Act.
This apart, we should appeal to the Supreme Court to allow bagair hukum cultivators to conduct farming on the land belonging to the Forest department as the State government is committed to provide land to the department. We should work together and help bagair hukum cultivators get title deeds.”
