BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said that the Supreme Court’s “historic” order rejecting the Directorate of Enforcement’s (ED) appeal to investigate his wife Parvathi BM in connection with the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment case is a “slap on the face” of the Union Government’s “vendetta politics”.
“This verdict has not only exposed the malice behind the case but has also unequivocally cleared our names of all the baseless allegations,” CM Siddaramaiah wrote on social media platform X.
Welcoming the apex court’s decision, Siddaramaiah said that throughout his long political career, he has always bowed before the Constitution and the rule of law. “This verdict upholds and protects that very belief,” he said.
Slamming the BJP and the Centre, the CM said that unable to defeat him politically, the saffron party and its allies have stooped to misusing Constitutional agencies like CBI and ED to fabricate baseless cases against his wife and harass his family. “This is not just an abuse of power but also a disgraceful and cowardly act. The mental agony we have been subjected to will forever remain a painful chapter in our lives,’’ the CM added.
Siddaramaiah, pointing out to Chief Justice BR Gavai’s observation, said it reflected the voice of his own conscience and of every Constitution-believing Indian.
“Electoral battles must be fought through the people, not through the misuse of institutions like the ED,” the CM said, adding that this is the voice of justice rising against tyranny.
The CM also said that this verdict restores faith in the judiciary, especially among all those who have fallen victim to “BJP’s political witch-hunt using IT, CBI, and ED over the past 10-11 years”.
Further, Siddaramaiah said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah must wake up and stop weaponising Constitutional agencies for political gain. “It is time they restore the autonomy of these institutions and cleanse themselves of the sins of political misuse,’’ the CM said.
He said BJP and JDS leaders in Karnataka, who have relentlessly hurled fabricated allegations against him and his family in connection with the MUDA case, “if they have even an ounce of dignity or shame left, they must come forward and publicly apologise for their baseless accusations”.
WILL CONTINUE TO FIGHT: BJP
The BJP on Monday said that the party will continue to fight the alleged scam in site allot-ment by the MUDA. The Supr-eme Court on Monday dismis-sed the ED’s appeal to probe Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathi BM in connection with MUDA case. Senior BJP MLA and Leader of the Oppo-sition in the Assembly R Ashoka said that Sidd-aramaiah, admitting his mist-ake, returned the sites allotted to his wife owing to the prot-ests by BJP.
“If he has not done any mistake, why were the sites returned?” the BJP leader said, adding that the party will not stop its fight in the MUDA case. Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy said, “Many documents are missing, and even during the ED probe, they had said that many documents were missing.
There is corru-ption in this case, and everyone is aware of it. Proper proof needs to be given. But in this case, the CM himself is invo-lved. The State Government failed to provide proof as it wanted to safeguard the CM.” Last year, BJP raised the alleg-ed MUDA site scam in the mon-soon session of the legislature, and later they even took out a padayatra from Bengaluru to Mysuru demanding that Siddaramaiah resign.