“The Chief Minister has indulged in favouritism and abuse of power to ensure that land held by his sons is denotified. He (the Chief Minister) should immediately step down owning moral responsibility,” Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah and JD(S) State President H D Kumaraswamy demanded at separate press conferences.
Yeddyurappa had ordered denotification of land acquired by the Government for the proposed Arkavathy layout at Rachenahalli on the outskirts of Bangalore, they charged. Besides, there were series of violations in the entire transaction.
“Will the Chief Minister be able to defend this case? It is the Government of looters and land grabbers,” Siddaramaiah alleged.
The BDA had issue preliminary notification for acquiring 1.12 acre land of survey number 52/2 in Rachenahalli in 2003. But former minister S N Krishnaiah Setty took general power of attorney (GPA) from the owners, violating the rule book. Setty sold the land to Yeddyurappa’s sons in 2006, which is again a violation of rules.
Within three months after Yeddyurappa assumed power as Chief Minister, he denotified the land, Siddaramaiah and Kumaraswamy alleged. Kumaraswamy charged that in another case, Setty took GPA for 16 guntas of land, also notified for acquisition, and sold it to Dhavalagiri Property Developers owned by Sohan Kumar, Yeddyurappa’s son-in-law.
The Chief Minister’s sons Vijayendra and Raghavendra are directors of the firm.
In a gross violation of the law, Setty, claiming himself as a GPA holder submitted an application to the Bangalore Development Authority in 2008 seeking denotification of the land.
However, by the time he submitted his application his GPA was not in effect as he had already sold it.
The Chief Minister denotified that land violating several rulings of various courts, Kumaraswamy charged, and demanded that the matter be handed over to Karnataka Lokayukta for a detailed inquiry.
‘Drop the minister’
Siddaramaiah demanded that a minister who is allegedly involved in fake distribution of compensation in the KIADB should be dropped from the Cabinet immediately and criminal action should be initiated against the minister’s son for his involvement. Siddaramaiah, however, did not reveal the name of the Minister, but alleged that his son is Jagadish Naidu.
‘I’ll face the test’
Reacting to the allegations, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has exuded confidence that he will face the Agni Parikshe (trial by fire) and come out clean.
“I have faced many Agni Parikshe in my tenure as CM. This is one more. I am confident that all these allegations will soon be proved baseless,” the Chief Minister told press persons.
On the compensation scam in KIADB, the Chief Minister said the Karnataka Lokayukta was an independent institution and the government would not interfere in its investigations.
