Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah on Friday said Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai used the Justice HS Kempanna Commission's report to give "wrong information" in the Assembly on the Arkavathy Layout denotification to "hide" corruption charges against the BJP government.
"This government is trying to blame us in order to hide corruption charges it faces because we've turned the '40 per cent commission' allegation into a movement by bringing out more scams," Siddaramaiah told a news conference.
Siddaramaiah's rebuttal came a day after Bommai read excerpts from the Justice Kempanna Commission's report, which is not in public, and accused the previous Congress government of 'redo' or denotifiation of Arkavathy Layout land.
"When I wasn't present in the Assembly, Bommai shouted and created an impression that there was a big scam worth Rs 8,000 crore. The Kempanna Commission has said that I did not denotify even one gunta of land. Bommai is speaking plain lies," Siddaramaiah said.
The Arkavathy Layout was formed in 2003, Siddaramaiah said. "Before we came to power, 2,750 acres were notified. Later, final notification was done for 1,919.13 acres. This was challenged in High Court and went to the Supreme Court, which fixed some parameters and teams were formed to delete some lands when BS Yediyurappa was the chief minister. The file went to Jagadish Shettar when he was CM, but by then the election code of conduct was in place, so it was sent back," he said.
"When our government came, there was a petition in the HC because of which there was some pressure. Our officers said everything was done as per SC parameters. So, I approved it. It was not a redo, but a remodified scheme. After that, Shettar and others said there was a scam. I formed a judicial commission," Siddaramaiah said.
In September 2021, the HC constituted another committee under retired Justice KN Keshavanarayana, Siddaramaiah pointed out. "In one PIL that sought tabling of the Justice Kempanna Commission's report, the HC said it can't be considered in view of the (Keshavanarayana) committee that's functioning. So, it's wrong to speak on a report that wasn't tabled," he said.
Also, Siddaramaiah defended his government's decision to constitute the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). The BJP accused him of weakening the Lokayukta by forming the ACB. "Gujarat, Goa, Assam, Madhya Pradesh and 12 other states have Lokayukta and ACB. Why isn't the BJP abolishing ACB in these states?" he said.
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