BENGALURU: In a show of unity, several former ministers and BJP leaders on Saturday lambasted Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for alleged misuse of Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) over the issue of denotification of land by state unit president B S Yeddyurappa, saying the move to issue notices to the former chief minister was politically motivated.
At a joint press conference held here, former ministers and leaders, C.M. Udasi, Basavaraj Bommai, B.J. Puttaswamy, Dr. C.N. Ashwathnarayana and N. Ravikumar, rubbished the allegation that denotification of 257 acres and 20 guntas by Mr Yeddyurappa resulted in cancellation of formation of Dr Shivaram Karanth layout. “It is far from truth,” they said adding that the high court has set aside a preliminary notification of acquisition of land for the proposed layout on grounds that the government did not issue the final notification. Besides, the high court also observed enormous delay in acquisition of land or the layout. The state government was pulled up for not issuing the final notification even after a gap of four years of issuing the preliminary notification for the layout. “It is irrelevant to question denotification of 257 acres 20 guntas of land when no steps were taken by the government to acquire land for the layout,” said Mr. Puttaswamy while quoting the court order. The leaders stated following the high court verdict, the government ordered cancellation of formation of Dr Shivaram Karanth layout in 2016. In 2012, however, the government ordered CID inquiry into alleged misdeeds of BDA officers in formation of the layout, but the probe was not completed, they added.
The leaders said they would stand by Mr Yeddyurappa as the move to register FIRs and send notices was politically motivated. Interestingly, officers of ACB were in a great hurry to enquire into denotification case when many other cases were pending, and notices were not issued to the CM and other ministers, they alleged adding that ACB was constituted only to harass political opponents of ruling Congress. Mr Siddaramaiah had weakened the Lokayukta and constituted ACB merely to harass political opponents, the leaders charged.
