Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President BY Vijayendra and other party leaders were on July 12 detained when they were on their way to Mysuru to stage a protest against alleged fraudulent allotment of sites to land losers by Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA). The controversy also involves plots given to the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife, Parvathi Siddaramaiah.
The BJP leaders were scheduled to attend a protest rally in Mysuru – the Chief Minister’s home district- and lay a siege to the MUDA office there. The saffron party has demanded that the investigation of this ‘scam’ should be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) immediately.
The MUDA Muddle
The BJP leaders have accused MUDA of allotting alternate sites in upscale Mysuru areas to influential individuals, including Parvathi Siddaramaiah, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife. These allotments were made under MUDA’s 50:50 scheme which was introduced in 2020. The scheme entitles land losers to 50 per cent of the developed sites, with the remainder for sale.
The scheme was revoked in 2023 by the Congress government over complaints. But, allegations persist that sites continued to be allotted under this scheme even after its revocation.
After a series of complaints, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka has ordered an inquiry by an IAS officer into the functioning of MUDA scheme and put on hold all allotments under it.
3.16 acres gifted to Siddaramaiah’s wife
The CM and other influential persons created false documents and defrauded MUDA by illegally acquiring plots worth crores of rupees, the BJP leaders allege. The MUDA had allotted plots to the Chief Minister’s wife under a 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of 3.16 acres of her land in Kesare village, Mysuru where MUDA developed a residential layout, they said.
The Opposition parties have also questioned the Chief Minister’s claim of ₹62 crore in compensation for the ‘agricultural’ land when its value was declared as only ₹25 lakh in the 2018 poll affidavit.
The allegation is that compensatory sites were allotted to Siddaramaiah’s wife in an upmarket area in Mysuru, which had higher property value than the location of her land, which had been “acquired” by MUDA.
The records for the 3.16 acres of land in the 2004-2005 period were fabricated to suggest that the CM’s wife’s brother originally bought it from a Dalit farmer, says the allegation. MUDA acquired the land in 1992 for sites, an allegation that an aide of the Karnataka CM has dismissed as frivolous.
“The Congress government is indulging in oppression. The Siddaramaiah-led Congress government doesn’t have the strength to stop our protest. In the days ahead from every corner of the state our BJP workers will come and lay siege in Mysuru and also Bengaluru. They have stopped us today, but our protest will continue,” Vijayendra was quoted as saying by PTI.
Those eyeing the CM chair
Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel HD Kumaraswamy said last week hat the alleged MUDA scam in Mysuru has been exposed by those who are ‘eyeing the Chief Minister’s post.’ The Minister was obliquely referring to Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar without taking his name.
“Why has the alleged scam been exposed now? People ambitious to get the Chief Minister’s post are behind it. They have started the MUDA factory after stopping the CD factory to target their opponents,” Kumaraswamy said.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has dismissed the Opposition’s allegations, pointing out that the land exchange took place when the BJP was in power, and that his Congress government has put the scheme on hold. The Chief Minister has also said he was ready to return the plots in Mysuru if compensation of ₹ 62 crore at market rate.
Inconsistencies in election affidavits
The election affidavits filed by Siddaramaiah in the past three assembly polls have inconsistencies in submissions regarding the ownership of this 3.16-acre parcel of “agricultural land” in Mysore, a report in Indian Express said
This land parcel, gifted to the Chief Minister’s wife in 2010 by her brother, is also at the centre of a political storm in the Congress-ruled state.
These inconsistencies are mentioned in the complaint filed by Bengaluru-based activist TJ Abraham with the Chief Electoral Officer on July 10. The complaint alleges that Siddaramaiah had filed a ‘false affidavit’ ahead of the 2013 Karnataka assembly polls.