Bengaluru, 18 Aug

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has convened a Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meeting on 22 August in the wake of Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot granting permission to prosecute him in the alleged site allotment scam in Mysuru Urban Development Authority.

According to a statement issued by the chief minister’s office, the meeting will be held in Vidhana Souda conference Hall.

Talking to reporters, Karnataka Minister for Information Technology and Biotechnology, Priyank Kharge said, "Since there is a huge uproar about the governor’s role, we need to apprise our people. Ultimately they are public representatives; 136 MLAs need to know what is happening."

“The meeting is related to the MUDA developments. The chief minister will brief the Congress legislators about the facts of the case and will chalk out a strategy to fight the case legally and politically,” a source in the CM House told PTI.

Gehlot granted permission to prosecute Siddaramaiah, acting on the complaints of three private individuals.

In the MUDA 'scam', it is alleged that compensatory sites were allotted to Siddaramaiah's wife Parvathi in an upmarket area in Mysuru, which had higher property value compared to the location of her land which had been "acquired" by MUDA.

MUDA had allotted 14 sites to Parvathi under a 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of 3 acres, 16 gunts of her land, where MUDA developed a residential layout. Under the controversial scheme, MUDA allotted 50 per cent of developed land in lieu of undeveloped land acquired from several persons for creating residential layouts.

BJP leaders have claimed that the MUDA 'scam' is of a magnitude of Rs 4,000 crore to Rs 5,000 crore.

The Congress government on 14 July constituted a single-member inquiry commission under former High Court Judge Justice PN Desai to probe the MUDA 'scam'. The chief minister denied has any wrongdoing in the alleged scam.