Karnataka Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot has sanctioned prosecution against state chief minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah over allegations in connection with the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment ‘scam’, sources said.
Gehlot has sanctioned the prosecution under section 17 of Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 18 of Bharat Nyaya Sanhita.
Governor Geholt in his prosecution sanction order mentioned that prima facie satisfied that allegations and supporting material discolose commission of offences.
As per the information, the chief minister’s legal team is likely to challenge the order before Karnataka High Court on Saturday. Siddaramaiah would likely approach the high court challenging the reasoning given in the order arguing that the Governor has acted in haste and passed the order.
Karnataka home minister G Parameshwara hit out at the BJP and assured support to the chief minister. “It is clear through this move that there was pressure from the Center on the Governor. Central government has misused the Governor office. The question of CM resignation will not arise now. We are all with Siddaramaiah,” he said.
Karnataka minister MB Patil also accused the BJP of destabiling the current Congress government with such actions.
“BJP in Centre is doing same thing in Karnataka, as they are doing in other non BJP Ruled states. Nothing is related to Karnataka CM, this was a MUDA mistake, nothing is linked with CM. He never asked anything about this, all this happened when there was BJP government. Governor is working on behalf of Centre, this is attempt to save HD Kumaraswamy. We will take this to court and the court will give justice to us. We will go to people of Karnataka, and will tell them that how BJP is trying to destabilise current govt,” he said.
Congress leader Priyank Kharge also hit out at the BJP-led central government and said that Raj Bhavan is being misused as the BJP’s tool to undermine a democratically elected government.
“The Karnataka Governor’s decision to sanction the prosecution of CM @siddaramaiah in the MUDA case has been orchestrated by the Central Government. Raj Bhavan is being misused as the BJP’s tool to undermine a democratically elected government. The Constitutional head of the State is sparking a constitutional crisis to appease his political masters. The Central Government may throw its full weight behind this, but we stand firm with the Constitution on our side. #SatyamevaJayate,” he said.
The Governor had earlier issued a show cause notice to the CM asking why permission should not be given to prosecute him. In reply, the Karnataka cabinet “strongly recommended” that the governor withdraw the notice issued to the chief minister.
The Governor shoot down the cabinets advise, and said, “it would then lead to situation where people on power break the law with impunity knowing that requisite sanction won’t be granted.”
Meanwhile, the BJP has demanded the resignation of the chief minister. Party leader BY Vijayendra said Siddaramaiah should resign in the back drop of Governor providing prosecution sanction, and make way for impartial probe.
Earlier on Tuesday, a special court adjourned the hearing of two private complaints against Siddaramaiah to August 20 and 21.
Siddaramaiah had termed the allegations as baseless and accused the opposition BJP and JD(S) of trying to tarnish his image by levelling false allegations. He said that he will not be cowed down by such things.
He asserted that he will fight against the charges both politically and legally, and will expose opposition leaders H D Kumaraswamy, B S Yediyurappa, B Y Vijayendra and Leader of Opposition in Assembly R Ashoka among others, and the scams in which they are allegedly involved, and take action against them based on inquiry reports.
“We (Congress) organised the Janandolana conventions against their (opposition) padayatre. We have told the people that they are lying, they are doing the padayatre (foot march) with false allegations. They are trying to create a black mark on Siddaramaiah’s image. They are trying to dislodge this government that has come to power with the blessings of the people,” Siddaramaiah said.
WHAT IS MUDA SCAM?
In the MUDA ‘scam’, it is alleged that compensatory sites were allotted to Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathi in an upmarket area in Mysuru, which had higher property value as compared to the location of her land which had been “acquired” by the MUDA.
The MUDA had allotted plots to Parvathi under a 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of 3.16 acres of her land, where MUDA developed a residential layout. Under the controversial scheme, MUDA allotted 50 per cent of developed land to the land losers in lieu of undeveloped land acquired from them for forming residential layouts.
Opposition and some activists have also claimed that the Parvathi had no legal title over 3.16 acres of land.
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