JOIN USBSY drags past CMs in scam
Defending his government’s decision on land denotification, allocation of Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) sites and Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) plots, which allegedly benefited his family members, the chief minister sought to take the sting out of an agitated Opposition, claiming that previous governments had done the same.
The chief minister said if the Opposition agreed, he was prepared to order a judicial probe by a retired Supreme Court judge into the denotification and allotment of lands and sites in the last 10 years.
Addressing a crowded press conference at his home office, ‘Krishna’, here, Yeddyurappa ruled out stepping down from chief ministership and said he had not committed anything illegal. In a bid to catch the Opposition on the wrong foot, the chief minister said those who were at the helm of government in the past too allotted BDA sites to their kith and kin, distributed land to close relatives through KIADB and denotified land.
Comparison
Taking exception to comparisons drawn between former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and him, Yeddyurappa shot back, saying “You cannot compare the two.”
Yeddyurappa said successive governments in the past denotified large tracts of land notified for various projects. Former chief ministers––S M Krishna, Dharam Singh and H D Kumaraswamy––denotified hundreds of acres of land, he said.
He also accused leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Siddaramaiah, for recommending to him last March the denotification of six acres in Kengeri in favour of a close relative, Dr O Mallikarjun Swamy. “What moral right does he (Siddaramaiah) have to comment against me?” Yeddyurappa asked. He admitted that he had allotted a BDA site to his son B Y Raghavendra, though he did not find anything illegal in his action.
When it was brought to his notice that Raghavendra had filed a false affidavit with the BDA, claiming that he did not possess any property in Bangalore before obtaining the site, Yeddyurappa said many people had obtained BDA sites by submitting similar affidavits. “If that was illegal many others lose their sites,” he said.
An unsparing chief minister also alleged that his predecessor Kumaraswamy altered the design of the peripheral ring road project to protect 40 acres of land his family owns in Chikkagubbi. According to Yeddyurappa, as chief minister, the JD(S) leader on June 15, 2006, denotified 1,077 acres which had been notified for the peripheral ring road.
In an attempt to brazen it and out, Yeddyurappa defended the allocation of land to his relatives, saying: “What’s wrong if my son was given KIADB land? Should they not set up any industry?” he asked, pooh-pooing the allegations against him.
According to reports, Yeddyurappa got five acres for a health unit in Shimoga and another six in Harohalli for a firm owned by his daughter. But he claimed there was nothing illegal in these allotments.
In this context, the chief minister said several relatives of many Congress and JD(S) leaders got land grants from KIADB for industrial purposes. Again identifying Kumaraswamy, during whose tenure as chief minister, Yeddyurappa disclosed that the JD(S) leader’s elder brother Balakrishne Gowda got six acres in Whitefield.
On the defensive, Yeddyurappa lost his cool when reporters pointed out how he could justify his wrong-doings by pointing out to the misdeeds of his predecessors. Avoiding more questions, the chief minister left the venue in a huff, citing the reason that he had to distribute sarees to women in Chamarajanagar.