Trouble for Siddaramaiah as Karnataka Governor approves prosecution against him in MUDA ‘scam’

According to sources, Karnataka Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot has filed a criminal case against Chief Minister and Congress MP Siddaramaiah on charges related to the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) land allotment 'scam'.

Gehlot has authorised the prosecution under Section 17 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 18 of the Bharat Nyaya Sanhita.

Governor Geholt mentioned in his sentencing order that the allegations and the supporting material prima facie suggest the commission of criminal offenses.

According to the information, the Chief Minister's legal team is likely to challenge the order in the Karnataka High Court on Saturday. Siddaramaiah is likely to approach the Supreme Court challenging the reasoning behind the order, saying that the Governor acted in haste and issued the order.

Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara attacked the BJP and assured the chief minister of his support. “This move clearly shows that the governor was under pressure from the central government. The central government has misused the office of the governor. The question of the chief minister's resignation does not arise now. We are all behind Siddaramaiah,” he said.

Karnataka Minister MB Patil also accused the BJP of destabilising the current Congress government through such actions.

“The BJP at the Centre is doing the same thing in Karnataka as it is doing in other states which are not ruled by the BJP. None of this has anything to do with the Chief Minister of Karnataka, this was a MUDA mistake, nothing has anything to do with the Chief Minister. He never asked for this, this all happened when the BJP government was in power. The Governor is working on behalf of the Central government, this is an attempt to save HD Kumaraswamy. We will take this to court and the court will give us justice. We will go to the people of Karnataka and tell them how the BJP is trying to destabilise the current government,” he said.

Congress MP Priyank Kharge also slammed the BJP-led central government, saying Raj Bhavan was being misused by the BJP to undermine a democratically elected government.

“Karnataka Governor's decision to authorise prosecution of CM @siddaramaiah in MUDA case was orchestrated by the Central Government. Raj Bhavan is being used as a tool of BJP to undermine a democratically elected government. The constitutional head of state is triggering a constitutional crisis to appease his political masters. The Central Government may throw all its weight behind it but we stand firm and the Constitution is on our side. #SatyamevaJayate,” he said.

The Governor had earlier served a notice to the Chief Minister asking why he should not be allowed to prosecute. In response, the Karnataka Cabinet “strongly” recommended the Governor to withdraw the notice addressed to the Chief Minister.

The governor rejected the Cabinet's advice, saying: “This would lead to a situation where those in power violate the law with impunity, knowing that they will not be granted the necessary sanctions.”

Meanwhile, the BJP has demanded the resignation of the chief minister. Party leader BY Vijayendra said Siddaramaiah should resign as the governor was ordering prosecution to make way for an impartial investigation.

Earlier, a special court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of two private cases against Siddaramaiah to August 20 and 21.

Siddaramaiah called the allegations baseless and accused the opposition BJP and JD(S) of trying to tarnish his image with false allegations. He said he would not be intimidated by such things.

He assured that he would fight the allegations both politically and legally and expose opposition leaders HD Kumaraswamy, BS Yediyurappa, BY Vijayendra and Leader of Opposition in Parliament R Ashoka and the scams in which they are allegedly involved and take action against them on the basis of investigation reports.

“We (Congress) have organised the Janandolana Congresses against their (opposition) padayatre. We have told people that they are lying, that they are conducting the padayatre (foot march) on false charges. They are trying to tarnish Siddaramaiah's image. They are trying to bring down this government which has come to power with the blessings of the people,” Siddaramaiah said.

What is MUDA fraud?

The MUDA 'scam' alleges that Siddaramaiah's wife Parvathi was allotted compensatory plots in a posh locality of Mysuru that had a higher real estate value than the location of her MUDA 'acquired' land.

The MUDA had allotted 50:50 plots to Parvathi instead of 3.16 acres of her land on which the MUDA was developing a residential area. Under the controversial plan, the MUDA allotted 50 percent of the developed land to the land losers instead of the undeveloped land they had acquired for building residential areas.

The opposition and some activists also claimed that the Parvathi had no legal claim to 3.16 acres of land.