On Monday, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah filed a petition to the high court after Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot permitted his prosecution over alleged MUDA irregularities. They have arisen from a specific issue of compensating sites granted to Siddaramaiah’s wife, Parvathi, under the 50:50 layout schematic embraced earlier in March this year for a premium location in Mysuru. While critics opined that the value of the allotted land was much higher than the value of the land MUDA had acquired from her, the BJP leaders pegged the worth of the alleged scam between Rs 4000 crore and Rs 5000 crore.
The resignation was made while political strife rose, with Congress stepping up its attack on the BJP. The Congress parties have come down heavily on the BJP and alleged that the BJP ministers in the governor’s office are using it for selective political vengeance. As a result, Siddaramaiah called for a CLP meeting on August 22 at the Vidhana Soudha conference hall to apprise the Congress MLAs about the position. Karnataka’s Minister for Information Technology and Biotechnology Priyank Kharge said it was necessary to brief the 136 MLAs on the events, saying, “Since there are controversies regarding the governor, we have to update our people. ”
Further, Siddaramaiah intends to meet the party high command in New Delhi on Tuesday, said an unnamed party leader.
In response to the Governor’s sanction, Deputy Chief Minister and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President DV Shankar said that protest rallies would be held throughout the state starting August 19. Shivakumar described the governor’s decision as politically motivated by the BJP to cause political instability to the Congress ruling regime. He described it as a “murder of democracy”. Further, he directed the party leaders to organise civilised demonstrations in which riff-raff elements do not mix with the masses to cause chaos.
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