Janata Dal (Secular) leader and Union minister HD Kumaraswamy announced Wednesday that his party will not back the BJP’s planned protest against the alleged Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam. The BJP intends to organise a “padayatra” from Bengaluru to Mysuru as part of this protest.
Kumaraswamy criticised the BJP for making this decision unilaterally without consulting coalition partners. He warned that such a political demonstration might aggravate public sentiment given the recent devastation caused by floods in Karnataka.
“If we hold such rallies, people will criticise us. When several villages (are) submerged due to flood mostly in North Karnataka and coastal Karnataka, we should focus on their rescue and relief operations,” the former Karnataka CM said.
“What is BJP going to achieve from this rally? Instead, we should go by legal course of action against the CM in MUDA scam,” Kumaraswamy further noted.
Kumaraswamy also expressed his displeasure over the involvement of Hassan BJP leader and former MLA Pretham Gowda in a recent joint meeting in Bengaluru. He accused Gowda of tarnishing the Deve Gowda family‘s reputation by distributing a damaging pen drive and questioned why he should support a protest where Gowda is given prominence.
“Pretham Gowda destroyed Deve Gowda family image by distributing Prajwal Revanna pen drive. When Pretham Gowda gets importance in proposed rally, why should I support such a protest?” he said.
The recent monsoon session of the State legislature saw a clash between ruling and opposition parties over the MUDA scam. Permission was denied for discussing alleged irregularities, leading to a night-long dharna by opposition members.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has alleged that Kumaraswamy and other leaders from the JD(S) and BJP are beneficiaries of the same MUDA scam. Siddaramaiah provided documents showing that in 1984, Kumaraswamy was allocated a 21,000 square feet plot in the Vishweshwaraiah Industrial Area for Rs 37,344, and had sought an occupancy certificate from MUDA in 2000. Siddaramaiah claimed that Kumaraswamy later requested an alternate plot in 2019 due to encroachment issues, ThePrint reported.
Kumaraswamy has refuted these claims, saying that he never received an alternate plot. He told reporters in Delhi that he paid Rs 38 lakh for an industrial site in Mysuru 40 years ago but never received the plot. At the time, he was involved in the film distribution business and had not yet entered politics.
The Valmiki scam, involving alleged misappropriation of approximately Rs 90 crore, is under investigation by both a state-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) and central agencies due to transactions involving a nationalised bank. B Nagendra, the former Minister for ST Welfare, has resigned and is currently held by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
