MYSURU: The BJP leaders and workers staged a massive protest over the alleged irregularities in the allotment of sites by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) in Mysuru on Friday. They demanded that the State Government hand over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). They also demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Urban Development Minister Byrathi Basavaraj.
Amid the rain, BJP workers turned up in large numbers in Mysuru’s KR Boulevard Road. Waving BJP flags, they raised slogans against Siddaramaiah and Byrathi Suresh.
BJP leaders, including Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly R Ashoka, former DyCM Dr CN Ashwathnarayan, Mysuru-Kodagu MP Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, MLA Srivatsa, BJP city unit chief L Nagendra, and others, were taken into custody by the police after they tried to jump over the barricades to enter the MUDA office.
Addressing the gathering, Ashoka accused the CM and his family of illegally getting sites from MUDA and threatened to continue to protest till Siddaramaiah resigns over the alleged scams in MUDA and the Maharshi Valmiki Schedule Tribes Development Corporation Ltd. He said that hundreds of sites were illegally distributed, and the Opposition has every right to protest. He also hit out at Siddaramaiah for playing the OBC card. Earlier, in a bid to elude the police, BJP leaders came to Mysuru in a vegetable goods carrier.
The BJP leaders said that Siddaramaiah was misleading people, as he has taken alternative sites in a developed layout instead of the same layout or in a newly developed one. MP Yaduveer said that the state’s exchequer is empty and the government has no funds to fill potholes or tackle dengue.
He said that Karnataka is in debt owing to the implementation of the guarantee schemes, and this has put a brake on development. He demanded the resignation of Siddaramaiah. “The recent Lok Sabha polls in Mysuru were considered a matter of prestige by the CM since it is his home turf. But he should have considered administration in the district as a matter of prestige,” the MP said.
BJP MLA Srivatsa accused the MUDA of allotting 5 lakh sq ft to only a few under the 50:50 ratio meant for land losers. He said that the MUDA can allot more than 560 sites, each measuring 20x30 sq ft if the land is taken back and developed into the layout.