CM ready for probe into land scams by ex-SC judge

Embattled chief minister of Karnataka B S Yeddyurappa announced that he would set up an enquiry commission headed by a retired supreme court judge to go into the issues of land dealings done by his government and the previous governments in the state over the last 10 years.

“I am ready for any enquiry into the land dealings committed by my government as well as all the previous governments in the last 10 years," he told reporters here on Monday.

He challenged the opposition Congress and JD(S) leaders in the state to accept his offer of the probe and come out with the details they have on the misdeeds done by him.

“I have not committed anything wrong in allotting a housing site to my son under the MP’s quota in Bangalore. I have also continued the tradition of previous chief ministers in denotifying land at various places in the state,” Yeddyurappa told a crowded press conference.

Giving details of various land scams of previous chief ministers in the state, he said all the previous chief ministers such as J H Patel, S M Krishna, Dharam Singh, H D Kumaraswamy were involved in denotifying land from acquisition for various purposes. He also defended his actions of denotification of 259.12 acres of land since June, 2008. He said there was nothing wrong in allotting a housing site from Bangalore Development Authority under ‘G’ category to his son B Y Raghavendra, who is elected Member of Parliament from Shimoga.

He also announced that he was ready to convene a special session of the state assembly to discuss in detail the issues related to denotifications during the last 10 years. “I am going to discuss about these two proposals with my friends in the opposition and take appropriate decision in the interest of the state,” Yeddyurappa said.

He said allotment of sites to sitting and formers MLAs, MPs, achievers in various fields, among others, under ‘G’ category is in practice for the past many years and during all regimes. For example, 149 sites have been allotted during late chief minister J H Patel’ tenure, 334 during S M Krishna’s tenure, 76 by Dharam Singh government, 288 by H D Kumaraswamy’s tenure and 136 sites have been allotted during the last two and a half years of the present government, he said.

On allegations of land allotment to Fluid Power Technologies Company, in which his sons B Y Raghavendra and B Y Vijayendra are directors, he said this company had applied to KIADB for allotment of two acres of land in Jigani Industrial Area to expand their business. Following this application, land has been allotted as per norms. Though the company has paid the stipulated full amount towards this allotment to KIADB, the land has not yet been handed over due to a dispute between the landowners and KIADB, he said.

“This type of allotments have been made during the tenure of various chief ministers previously. For example, land has been allotted to Prasad R Deshpande, son of R V Deshpande, former industries minister, Mahima Patel, son of J H Patel, G Parameshwar, KPCC President, T Prabhakar, former chairman, KSRTC, Balakrishne Gowda, brother of H D Kumaraswamy, among others,” he said.