Mandya, 5 July

Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy claimed on Friday that the alleged land scam in Mysuru Urban Development Authority was an "outcome" of power struggle between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his Deputy DK Shivakumar.

“It’s an old news. Why has it surfaced now? The MUDA scam is getting lots of publicity now. Who started it? The person who is anxious to become the next Chief Minister and is waiting to unseat Siddaramaiah has done it,” Kumaraswamy told reporters here without directly naming Shivakumar.

The Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries, who is also the JD(S) second-in-command, said the "news" got prominence only to bring a "bad name" to the Chief Minister so that he could be removed from his post.

“This is a conspiracy within Congress to unseat the Chief Minister by hiring a team of lawyers and extracting documents from MUDA,” Kumaraswamy alleged. “This is an attempt to trap the Chief Minister.”

BJP has alleged irregularities in the allotment of alternative sites to land losers, including Chief Minister's wife Parvathi, by MUDA.

Denying any wrongdoing, the Chief Minister had said the plots were given to his wife by MUDA in 2021 when BJP was in power.

Reacting to this, Kumaraswamy sought to know what the ruling Congress has been doing for the past one year after coming to power.

The Chief Minister said earlier this week housing sites allotted by MUDA under the 50:50 scheme to land losers have been put on hold pending an investigation into the alleged irregularities.

BJP has alleged that irregularities to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore had taken place in distribution of sites to land losers by MUDA. PTI