BENGALURU, 3 AUG

Anti-Graft/Corruption and Environmental Forum President TJ Abraham, who had filed a complaint against Siddaramaiah over the MUDA scam has demanded a public apology from the Chief Minister after being labelled a "blackmailer".

"If there is no public apology, I will initiate criminal defamation proceedings against you," Abraham said on Saturday.

Abraham called Siddaramaiah's accusations "utterly false and frivolous". He claimed that the Chief Minister's allegations were to discredit him as he pursued a case involving criminal manipulations related to Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA). Abraham accused Siddaramaiah and his family of illegally obtaining alternative sites from MUDA, resulting in corrupt gains amounting to around Rs 55.80 crore.

Earlier, Siddaramaiah had referred to Abraham as a blackmailer and criticised Governor for entertaining his complaint.

In his response, Abraham referred to the conviction of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamation case over a "Modi" surname remark made in 2019, which led to Gandhi's disqualification from Parliament.

Abraham also drew parallels to a similar situation faced by BJP leader BS Yediyurappa in 2011 for denotifying the land in and around Bengaluru after then-governor Hans Raj Bhardwaj granted consent to prosecute him and he stepped down as Chief Minister. -Salar News