As Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot has granted permission to prosecute Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the MUDA scam, senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Kapil Sibal will arrive in Bengaluru on August 19. According to the Chief Minister’s office on Sunday, the two top Supreme Court lawyers may appear on his behalf in the special court for public representatives. Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge refused to name the lawyers but told the media, “We have the best constitutional experts being flown in. We have a lot of people within the state who are helping the government with this and we will take it up.”
The chief minister has refuted the charge saying it is baseless and malicious to defame him and destabilise the Congress government in the state. The chief minister is facing a legal hurdle after Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot granted permission on Saturday to prosecute him in the alleged alternative site scam in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority on a complaint given by three activists. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has convened a Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meeting on August 22.
Deputy CM DK Shivkumar said that a statewide protest has been organized on August 19, Monday at 11 am, against the Governor's permission for the prosecution against CM Siddaramaiah and requested all party workers and leaders to participate in this protest.
It is to be noted that in the MUDA 'scam', 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 place of 3 acres, 16 gunts of her land, where MUDA developed a residential layout. Under the controversial scheme, MUDA allotted 50 percent of developed land instead of undeveloped land acquired from several persons for creating residential layouts.