Siddaramaiah played a part in wife getting plots in Mysuru, says Kumaraswamy, releases official notes

Union Heavy Industries & Steel Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Friday released copies of official notes at Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) in support of his charge that Chief minister Siddaramaiah was not innocent in his wife getting 14 MUDA plots in Mysuru.

Kumaraswamy, who is also the JDS Karnataka President, said the official noting showed the demand for alternative plots came from CM’s wife Parvathi, and the CM’s claims that the MUDA came up with the offer on its own was incorrect.

Siddaramaiah is battling charges of helping his wife with the allotment of 14 pricey plots in the upscale Vijayanagar in Mysuru in exchange for 3 acre 16 guntas of land, taken over by MUDA at Kesare village on the city outskirts.

The MUDA authorities, Kumaraswamy said, did offer monetary compensation at market rates or alternative plots in the 60:40 ratio, but the CM’s wife rejected the offer. The 60:40 ratio meant a landowner getting 40% of land back in the form of developed plots in return for the land given up.

The CM’s wife, instead, demanded a plot measuring the same area in another layout, the union minister said, while urging the Chief Minister to read the official records and note carefully and come back with an explanation.

The CM’s wife gave the letter to MUDA authorities on March 23, 2014, placing this demand, Kumaraswamy said, and sought to know from Siddaramaiah where he was on this day. “Were you not the CM, sitting on the third floor of Vidhana Soudha,” he asked.

The fresh set of charges against the CM from the JDS leader’s charges come a day after the Cabinet decided to go after him and pursue the Lokayukta Special Investigation Team’s (SIT) request to the Governor to permit it to file chargesheet against the union minister in a case of approval in favour of a mining company during his first term as CM.