BENGALURU: Municipal Administration Minister H C Balakrishna on Saturday challenged Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy to produce documents to substantiate his allegations that he (Balakrishna), Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and MLA Dr H D Ranganath own land within the NICE project area. “If Kumaraswamy produces documents, I will register everything in the names of Kumaraswamy, his wife and children.
If I have any land there, I will give it to them,” Balakrishna told reporters in Ramanagara. He said Kumaraswamy had earlier made allegations regarding land at Tavarekere (Bengaluru) and that he had already given a reply in the Assembly.
“Instead of making empty statements, he (Kumaraswamy) should release documents,” Balakrishna said. On Kumaraswamy’s interaction with people affected by the NICE road project, Balakrishna said, “If he had done the same when he was chief minister, I would have congratulated him. He is doing it now for political reasons”.
Balakrishna alleged that during Kumaraswamy’s two terms as chief minister, the latter neither accepted the grievances of affected people nor visited them to hear their problems.
Reacting to Kumaraswamy’s reported statement that he would publicly hang himself if its proved that he had illegal assets, Balakrishna said, “He should not hang himself. He should be around at least to criticise us. Let him stay for some more time.”