BENGALURU: Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah is facing the heat of BJP allegations that he intervened to override a Supreme Court order in denotifying a parcel of land in Bengaluru North taluk back in June 2016.
In a press conference on Tuesday, the saffron party’s MLC B J Puttaswamy imputed that Siddaramaiah held benami property in the said parcel of land or made huge financial gains from the denotification of it.
Reacting to Puttaswamy’s allegations, Siddaramaiah denied denotifying any land and declared he would sue the BJP MLC for defamation.
The 6 acres and 26 guntas of land in Bhoopsandra in Bengaluru North taluk was notified in 1982 to facilitate the creation of a residential area. It was subsequently denotified in
June 2016, in violation of a Supreme Court order which had upheld the 1982 notification.
Puttaswamy said though the land acquisition and notification process was over and people were allotted sites in the parcel of land, a denotification process was set in motion again in 2013 through an appeal by an MLA, Vasanth Bangera.
“What is shocking is that after this the original landholders filed a petition for denotification again in the High Court while completely suppressing the fact that the Supreme Court had upheld the 1982 notification. The chief minister overrode the concerns of the Bengaluru Development Aujthority (BDA) and made it withdraw an appeal challenging the Supreme Court order."
Puttaswamy estimated the value of the land to be Rs 300 crore. He added that the BJP would file a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Bureau with all the details.
"Resign if you (Siddaramaiah) have any decency," Puttaswamy said.
Reacting to Puttaswamy, Siddaramaiah denied denotifying any land. "When I have not done anything, where is the question of allegation? They are just trying to besmirch me as the elections are nearing. I will file a defamation case and I am consulting my lawyers about this," he said.