Governor is functioning as a 'puppet' of Centre and BJP-JD(S): Karnataka CM lashes out

Mysuru, Aug 2 (PTI) Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday lashed out at the Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot for issuing him a show-cause notice and accused him of functioning as a "puppet" of the central government and the BJP-JD(S). Siddaramaiah described as “illegal and unconstitutional” the issue of notice asking him why sanction for prosecution against him should not be given in the case of alleged irregularities in the distribution of sites by Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA).

Based on a petition filed by advocate-activist T J Abraham, the Governor issued the notice on July 26 directing the Chief Minister to submit his reply to the allegations against him within seven days justifying why permission to prosecute him should not be granted.

The Council of Ministers, at a meeting here on Thursday, urged the Governor to withdraw the notice.

In the MUDA 'scam', it is alleged that compensatory sites were allotted to Siddaramaiah's wife Parvathi in an upmarket area in Mysuru, which had higher property value as compared to the location of her land which had been "acquired" by the MUDA. The MUDA had allotted 14 sites to Parvathi under a 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of 3.16 acres of her land, where MUDA developed a residential layout.

Under the controversial scheme, MUDA allotted 50 per cent of developed land to the land losers in lieu of undeveloped land acquired from them for forming residential layouts.

BJP leaders have claimed that the MUDA "scam" is of the magnitude of Rs 4000 crore to Rs 5,000 crore.

The Congress government on July 14 constituted a single member inquiry commission under former High Court Judge Justice P N Desai to probe the MUDA 'scam'.

The Chief Minister denied any wrongdoing in the alleged 'scam.' "My role is not there. Where is my role?," he told reporters here.

He charged the central government with "misusing Raj Bhavan '' and alleged attempts to destabilise a democratically elected government.

"The Governor is completely functioning like a puppet of the central government, BJP-JD(S)," Siddaramaiah said.

The Chief Minister said he did not attend Thursday's Cabinet meeting because he did not wish to set a "wrong precedent." He had nominated the Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar to chair the meeting.

“He (Shivakumar) had a detailed meeting on the show-cause notice. They (the Ministers at the meeting) said this show-cause notice is illegal and it should be withdrawn,” Siddaramaiah said.

The Chief Minister also said the Governor should have taken note of Abraham’s antecedents.

“Further, if you look at T J Abraham’s antecedents, he is a blackmailer. Acting on his complaint is illegal. He has been giving complaints against several people like this. I have not committed any such offence,” Siddaramaiah said.

He noted that Abraham had given a complaint on July 26 and on the same day the Governor issued him a show-cause notice.

“A thorough assessment should have been made before issuing a notice on a single day of receiving a complaint involving a legal matter against me, who is the Chief Minister of an elected government with 136 elected members. He did not look into it. It was done in undue haste,” Siddaramaiah alleged.

The Chief Minister said there were similar petitions seeking sanction of prosecution against former BJP Ministers Shashikala Jolle, Murugesh Nirani and G Janardhana Reddy but they were pending for years and no action was taken. PTI