‘Though MUDA Chairman (in 2021) H.V. Rajeev was in BJP, he is Siddaramaiah’s close friend’

Bengaluru: State BJP President B.Y. Vijayendra has made a startling claim that the 14 sites acquired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s family in Mysuru were not granted by the  BJP Government under Basavaraj Bommai.

He asserted that neither the then Government nor the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) Board approved these acquisitions during their meetings.

Speaking to reporters after meeting the party’s National President J.P. Nadda in New Delhi yesterday, Vijayendra pointed out that although H.V. Rajeev, the MUDA Chairman at the time when the sites were sanctioned to Siddaramaiah’s family (CM’s wife B.M. Parvathi), was a BJP member, he (Rajeev) was a close friend of Siddaramaiah.

“Rajeev is now with Congress. I am surprised at how Siddaramaiah’s family managed to acquire these 14 sites without approval from the Government and the MUDA Board,” he remarked.

“When Basavaraj Bommai was the Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah was the Leader of the Opposition. Siddaramaiah knew that his family would receive these 14 MUDA sites and thus did not attempt to prevent this illegality,” he observed.

“There is confusion in the records regarding whether the land in Kesare, purportedly gifted to CM’s wife by her brother, belonged to MUDA or to a person named Devaraju. Despite knowing all this, Siddaramaiah remained silent, allowing his family to secure these valuable sites. He never addressed this issue because he was fully aware that his family stood to benefit from the 14 sites,” Vijayendra added.

The State BJP President demanded that Siddaramaiah must resign before the Court’s verdict on his site acquisition scam. “The CM should resign tomorrow, if not today. After the High Court verdict, he will have to resign,” Vijayendra noted.

Instead of focusing on development, the Government has not even started any development work. The administration is paralysed under the pretext of fulfilling guarantees. Frustrated by the financial crisis, even Ministers have stopped working and MLAs are distancing themselves from the Chief Minister, he claimed.

“Siddaramaiah is positioning himself as innocent, rallying public support and preparing for a public movement, while 14 sites were granted to his family under his watch,”  he stated.

He highlighted that due to Government’s guarantees, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is owed Rs. 4,500 crore. “If this situation continues for another three or four months, KSRTC will have to shut down. They don’t even have enough funds to pay salaries,” he said.