HD Kumaraswamy’s land grab charges baseless: CM Siddaramaiah

Hubballi: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has hit out at JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy saying that the JD(S) leader had a long history of raking up old issues to unsettle the ruling party and called the allegations baseless.

Responding to Kumaraswamy’s allegations about Tourism Minister R.V. Deshpande having acquired land illegally, Siddaramaiah staunchly defended his Minister stating that the land was converted into revenue land more than six decades ago and Mr Deshpande had acquired the land legally, after it had changed hands among five to six buyers.

He also vented his ire at the Central government for not releasing funds to tackle the drought situation in the State. Mr Siddaramaiah said that BJP leaders should have exerted more pressure on the Prime Minister in this regard.

Addressing reporters here on Thursday, he said the State government had sought funds during the all-party meeting with the Prime Minister as Karnataka was facing loss to the tune of Rs 3,600 crore due to severe drought conditions this year.

Condemning former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa for accusing the state government of providing bad governance, he said the BJP leader himself was frustrated over court cases lodged against him and non-cooperation from his own party leaders.

Terming the ongoing rally undertaken by the Opposition leaders as ‘BJP Chaitanya Yatra’, he challenged the Central government to waive the loans taken by farmers from the nationalised and scheduled banks in the wake of the drought.

“The Centre has not released funds despite several pleas by the State. The BJP leaders have not convinced the PM during the meeting of the all-party delegation. Instead, they are politicising the issue of drought and death of farmers to mislead the people,” Siddaramaiah said. On the problems confronting displaced Kannadigas in Baina beach in Goa, he said Karnataka has written to Goa to rehabilitate them. The state government will take up the work if Goa failed to do it.

Complaint against Deshpande

The Human Rights and Non-Corruption Committee has filed a complaint to the Lokayukta demanding a probe into the alleged forestland grabbing by Tourism Minister R.V. Deshpande. Girish Gowda M.T of the committee filed the complaint.