Bengaluru to Mysuru on foot: BJP-JDS' protest against MUDA scam continues, disrupts traffic between two cities
The march will culminate into a mega public meeting in Mysuru on August 10.
The opposition BJP and its ally JD(S) in Karnataka on Saturday kicked off their seven-day 'Mysuru Chalo' march from Bengaluru, demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah alleging his involvement in the illegal site allotment scam in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA). BJP state president B Y Vijayendra and JD(S) Youth Wing president Nikhil Kumaraswamy started the march by blowing a bugle amidst the drum beats. The march will culminate into a mega public meeting in Mysuru on August 10.
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BJP veteran B S Yediyurappa alleged that the CM is involved in a corruption case and he has to step down. "It's better for Siddaramaiah to resign on his own and step down gracefully," he said addressing the workers and leaders of both the BJP and the JD(S). Speaking on the occasion, opposition leader in the Karnataka Assembly R Ashoka said the Congress has no moral right to question Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot for issuing a notice to the chief minister.
"You (Siddaramaiah) have started trembling after a notice was given. One can only imagine what will happen when the permission is given by him (Governor) to prosecute the chief minister," he said. Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries H D Kumaraswamy said the Congress talks about uplifting the downtrodden communities but what they did in the MUDA and Valmiki Corporation scam exposed their 'anti-Dalit' face. He predicted the fall of the government in the next few months. Reacting to the agitation, the Chief Minister said the BJP is the ‘grandfather’ of corruption.
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“If there is any grandfather of corruption, it’s the BJP. Whom do we call ’40 per cent corruption’? It’s BJP only,” he told reporters in Hassan. Siddaramaiah said the Karnataka Contractors’ Association president D Kempanna had alleged that the previous BJP government was collecting 40 per cent commission. Responding to Kumaraswamy’s prediction, Siddaramaiah said, “We have to see how many days H D Kumaraswamy remains a union minister. People have blessed us and elected 136 people. They were 37 (in 2019 assembly election). They have come down to 19. Does Kumaraswamy remember this?”
The MUDA scam is related to getting alternative land in the up market against the existing land in some remote corner of the city. The opposition parties have alleged that the size of the MUDA alternative site scam is worth ₹3,000 crore, in which Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathi is also a beneficiary. The Chief Minister rejected the charges, saying the MUDA had illegally formed a layout on the four acres of land his wife owned in Kesarur on Mysuru outskirts without acquiring it.
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According to him, his wife was entitled for compensation and hence, she was allotted a land by MUDA. Based on a petition filed by advocate-activist T J Abraham, the Governor issued the notice on July 26 directing the Chief Minister to submit his reply to the allegations against him within seven days justifying why permission to prosecute him should not be granted. The Karnataka government on Thursday "strongly advised" the Governor to withdraw his show cause notice to Siddaramaiah over the MUDA 'scam', and alleged that it was part of a concerted effort to destabilise the Congress dispensation.