BENGALURU: Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly R Ashoka on Friday denied any political motive behind the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) raid on the MUDA office in Mysuru.
According to Ashoka, a complaint was filed a few months ago alleging irregularities in allotment of over 1,200 MUDA sites, including some allotted to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife.
Moreover, a former MUDA chairman had alleged that Rs 4,000 crore had been misused. Hence, the ED raided the MUDA office. “One should not politicise this,’’ he told reporters.
Ashoka said if the investigation establishes that a scam had taken place in MUDA, it will help the state government recover the money involved.
The scam in MUDA was first raised by the former MUDA chairman, who is also a Congress leader. Later, activist Snehamayi Krishna filed a complaint with the ED. “If the government manages to recover the scam money and punish the guilty, it should be happy. It should not blame opposition parties and accuse them of politicising the issue,’’ he said.
Ashoka said, “Those who are questioning the ED probe now, could have taken up the matter in a court of law. But Chief Minister Siddaramaiah did not go to any court. If the government thinks that the ED has no power to investigate the scam, then why was a Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to probe it?’’
He said the state unit of BJP will soon take a decision on taking forward its struggle over the MUDA scam.
