Karnataka BJP to Stage Day-and-Night Dharnas Over MUDA Scam

Karnataka BJP announced plans for continuous protests in the Legislative Assembly and Council over a controversial land allotment scheme by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), implicating Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's wife Parvathi. Allegations include over 5,000 illegal site allocations, and the BJP accuses the government of avoiding discussion.

Karnataka BJP announced on Wednesday that it would stage 'day-and-night' dharnas in both the Legislative Assembly and Council. The protests aim to highlight the alleged fraudulent allotment of sites by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), involving plots allocated to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's wife, Parvathi.

The opposition was barred from discussing the issue in both Houses today. The legislature session is expected to end on Friday.

'Congress has 136 MLAs. When we proposed an adjournment motion regarding the Rs 4,000 crore loot in the MUDA scam, the government was scared and avoided discussion. Key bills, including the finance bill, were passed without debate. This government lacks the courage to address the MUDA allegations in the House,' said R Ashoka, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.

Speaking to reporters, Ashoka stated that if the government had any 'shame or self-esteem,' it should declare on the House floor that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah legally obtained 14 sites, as did his supporters.

'It's a Rs 4,000 crore scam. Over one lakh square feet of land belonging to Dalits has been looted. We wanted to raise this issue, but we weren't allowed. The Speaker's conduct in favor of the ruling party is condemnable. Protesting this suppression, we are declaring day-and-night protests by all our MLAs and MLCs,' he added.

State BJP President and MLA B Y Vijayendra also announced overnight protests in both the Legislative Assembly and Council. He stated the protests are to ensure that Dalits aren't wronged and to reclaim illegally allocated sites given to the Chief Minister's family. 'The Chief Minister ran away from the discussion on the MUDA scam. If he had courage, he should have instructed the Speaker to permit discussion. The Speaker has been misused to prevent it, and the opposition is being suppressed,' he said. It is alleged that compensatory sites were allocated to Siddaramaiah's wife in an upmarket Mysuru area, which has higher property value than her originally acquired land.

MUDA allotted plots to Parvathi under a 50:50 ratio scheme in exchange for 3.16 acres of her land, which MUDA transformed into a residential layout. The controversial scheme allots 50% of developed land to the original landowner in return for undeveloped land used for new layouts. Amid opposition's push for discussion, four bills, including a supplementary budget and amendments related to GST, irrigation, and municipality laws, were passed in the Assembly.

Additional amendments related to medical registration, SC/ST/OBC reservations, and ancient monuments were tabled. Two other bills, the Karnataka Appropriation Bill and the Sri Renuka Yellamma Temple Development Authority Bill, were also introduced.