Govt to reward land scam tip-offs

Addressing the BJP legislature party meeting in Bangalore, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Tuesday said the government will earmark Rs five crore for this purpose in the next budget. Advertisements will be placed in leading newspapers inviting the public to expose benami land holders. Names of the whistle-blowers will be kept a secret, he said.

“The government will confiscate those lands and the amount of reward will be determined based on the present market price of such lands,” Yeddyurappa said.
The announcement is seen as a tacit political move by the chief minister to turn the tables on the JD(S), especially the Gowda family, which has been trying to dislodge Yeddyurappa from the seat of power, by levelling a series of corruption charges.

Yeddyurappa has been on record stating that the Gowda family owned several hundred acres of benami land in and around Bangalore and it was a matter of time before the State government exposed and confiscated the same. “Benami lands in Bangalore are valued at Rs one lakh crore,” he said.

Targeting the Opposition parties, Yeddyurappa said he was ready for a public debate on the charges made against him.

Two advocates, who obtained consent for prosecution from the Governor, had filed five criminal cases against Yeddyurappa in a designated Lokayukta court.

“I will reply to all the allegations made against me by the Opposition. We will hold a debate in the Banquet Hall in Vidhana Soudha. Let the media telecast the event live,” he said inviting the opposition parties to participate in the debate. Senior citizens and also judges could be invited to adjudicate the proceedings, he said.

Yeddyurappa said the BJP planned to bring out a booklet listing out the “misdeeds” of previous governments from the Deve Gowda regime to the Kumaraswamy regime (1994-2007).

The booklet would be brought out in Kannada and English and would be distributed to the people, he said.