Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has been facing heat from opposition leaders over alleged irregularities in the denotification of land.
Karnataka's next legislature session begins on Monday. And this one may not be a cakewalk for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The main opposition parties, the BJP and the Janata Dal (Secular), intend to give him a hard time on an issue that has tripped up many a Chief Minister - denotification of land.
They accuse him of irregular denotification of precious land in Bengaluru, which had earlier earmarked for housing sites under the Bangalore Deveopment Authority (BDA), as part of the Arkavathy layout. They say this has been done to benefit builders.
JD (S) leader HD Kumaraswamy said, "More than shaking the chair of the Chief Minister, I am concerned in finding the truth, about who has been involved in these illegalities. Siddaramaiah has been talking about his honesty, how he has never been corrupt. He can't use those words again. I will submit the information I have to the Kempaiah Commission. He will look at the legal aspect."
The BJP plans to get a laywer or activist to file a case in the Lokayukta Court against Siddaramaiah. After their protests on the issue last year, a judicial commission, the Kempaiah Commission was set up to look into the allegations.
BJP party state president, Prahlad Joshi, said, "Whatever documents had to be traced, that has been done by the Bharatiya Janata Party. The legal points that have to be formulated from the documents, it is done now. And some individuals have taken up the issue. I can only say we have got sufficient documents to prosecute the Honourable Chief Minister."
Siddaramaiah says his hands are clean and that what happened was not denotification but modification. "Not a single acre is denotified during our time," he insisted to media persons who questioned him on the issue.
The opposition says the state government has worked behind closed doors to modify exisitng documents, a charge that is being denied.
Karnataka Chief Ministers are no strangers to charges of illegal denotification. Siddaramaiah says he has done nothing wrong - but the opposition is not going to let him off the hook that easily.