A file photo of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and former CM B.S. Yediyurappa.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has called upon senior BJP leader B.S. Yediyurappa, who has been named in a chargesheet in a Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act case, to retire from public life. On August 7, he told reporters in Mysuru that the BJP leader is involved in around 20 alleged scams and cases.
Pointing out that the former Chief Minister had evaded imprisonment in the POCSO Act case, involving a 17-year-old girl, because a court had stayed his arrest, Mr. Siddaramaiah sought to know what moral right does Mr. Yediyurappa have to speak against him.
“Let him retire from public life,” Mr. Siddaramaiah suggested before referring to other alleged cases of corruption involving Mr. Yediyurappa, including one in which money had been accepted through cheque and a denotification case.
Mr. Siddaramaiah cited the alleged Jantakal mining scam, ‘shell’ companies of Mr. Yediyurappa and his son, alleged D. Devaraj Urs Truck Terminal scam and the alleged misuse of funds belonging to the Bovi Development Corporation among the cases he will place in the public domain during the Janandolana rally scheduled to be held in Mysuru on August 9.
On allegations of scam in allotment of MUDA sites
With regard to allegations against him over allotment of compensatory sites by MUDA to his wife Parvathi, Mr. Siddaramaiah said he had directed the authorities against allotting sites to his wife when the application was first submitted in 2014 when he was the chief minister.
“I had told MUDA that that the alternative sites (in lieu of her land being used by MUDA for developing a layout) should not be allotted to her as long as I am the Chief Minister,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
His wife had submitted an application to MUDA in 2014 seeking alternative and compensatory sites in lieu of the 3 acres and 16 guntas of land belonging to her that had been ‘encroached’ by MUDA for developing a layout. “When the Urban Development Department authorities brought the matter to my notice, I said don’t give even one gunta of land as long as I am the Chief Minister,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
‘Sites allotted as per law by BJP government’
His wife submitted an application again in 2021 when the BJP government was in power. The compensatory sites were allotted to her during the tenure of the BJP government and the allotment was as per the law, he added.
On the show-cause notice issued to him by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, Mr. Siddaramaiah said a reply had been sent and he believed that the Governor, as the constitutional head of the State, ‘would act as per law’.
