Senior BJP leaders, including Karnataka state President BY Vijayendra and Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka, were detained by Karnataka Police at the Kumara Krupa Guest House on Wednesday, July 3. The leaders were preparing to march to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's residence, demanding his resignation over alleged irregularities in the Tribal Development Board and Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA).
The BJP has accused Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his administration of involvement in a Rs 4,000 crore alternative sites scam in MUDA, claiming one of the beneficiaries is Siddaramaiah’s wife, Parvathi. BJP also alleges a cover-up in the Rs 180 crore Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation scam, which purportedly led to the suicide of accounts superintendent P Chandrasekharan.
As police thwarted the BJP's plan to lay siege to the CM's residence, some senior leaders were forcefully taken into buses. Ashoka, while being detained, criticised the MUDA scam, saying that landowners entitled to 15 sites were given 20, and those entitled to 20 sites were allotted 60 by the authorities. He termed it "open loot" by the government and demanded a CBI investigation into the MUDA scam, instead of an internal probe by a panel of IAS officers.
Ashoka accused the Congress government of confirming CM Siddaramaiah's role in the scams by not allowing the BJP to stage a protest. “The BJP has already compelled a minister to resign in the tribal welfare scam and is vowing to continue the agitation until another minister from the Congress government resigns,” Ashoka said. Vijayendra said that sites meant for the poor were being distributed to a chosen few, leaving the poor waiting for over 10 to 13 years.
With inputs from IANS