BENGALURU, 26 JULY

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday defended the alleged fraudulent allotment of sites to land losers by Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), including to his wife Parvathi, and asserted that neither he nor his family has any role in it.

Siddaramaiah also said Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot has sought a report from the government regarding the alleged irregularities in MUDA and a report will be sent "as everything is totally and legal".

Responding to charges questioning the legality of 3.16 acres of his wife's land that was acquired by MUDA, he said, BJP and JD(S) say this land attracts provisions of Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prohibition of Transfer of Certain Lands) Act, known as the PTCL Act, which is "totally false", as Ninga alias Jawara, the earlier owner of the land, had purchased it through auction in 1935.

The 3.16 acres is a "self-acquired" property, which later came to Ninga's third son Devaraj and he became the absolute owner of the property with the consent of other family members and siblings, he said. From him, Mallikarjuna Swamy (CM's wife Parvathi's brother) acquired this land. "As this is a self-acquired property and not a grant by the government, it doesn't attract PTCL Act."

This land was acquired by MUDA and a final notification was issued in 1997. The CM said that based on Devaraj's application the land was subsequently denotified. In 2004, Devaraj sold the property to Mallikarjuna Swamy and in 2005, it was converted from agricultural land to non-agricultural, he said, adding, in 2010 Mallikarjuna Swamy gifted the land to his sister Parvathi.

MUDA subsequently, without the consent of the land owner, formed sites on it and distributed them to others, following which Parvathi moved an application to MUDA in 2014 seeking alternative sites instead of her land utilised by it illegally, he said.

Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Friday charged BJP with levelling allegations against Siddaramaiah as part of its "conspiracy" against the Congress government. “Karnataka is the biggest State for the Congress party. BJP had never thought that Congress would win here. So, they are hatching a conspiracy against the government," Shivakumar, also the State Congress chief, said here. -PTI