BJP in Karnataka stages protest demanding CM Siddaramaiah's resignation

Bengaluru: Opposition BJP in Karnataka on Thursday staged a protest demanding Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's resignation following a Special Court here ordering a Lokayukta police probe against him in a site allotment case.

Holding placards and shouting slogans, several party lawmakers and leaders took part in the the protest, led by Leaders of Opposition in Legislative Assembly and Council, R Ashoka and Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, respectively, in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue at 'Vidhana Soudha', the seat of the state legislature and secretariat here.

"Two court orders have come against Siddaramaiah. When we first protested inside and outside the assembly they (CM and Congress) termed it as politically motivated and when the Governor order came they said it was at the behest of the BJP-led government at the centre. Now the High Court and Special Court have given orders, they have found truth in allegations and said it needs to be investigated," Ashoka said.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the protest, he said, "despite this, the Congress is playing a drama calling it politically motivated....Siddaramaiah must resign and respectfully cooperate with the investigation. We are not saying the government should go, if not him (Siddaramaiah as CM), someone else. We want a fair probe, and government property should be protected."

Responding to a question on senior Congress leader and former Speaker K B Koliwad reportedly suggesting that Siddaramaiah should resign, Ashoka said there is similar demand from several leaders within the ruling party.

Claiming there are already several claimants within the Congress for the CM Post, he said, "...there will be rebellion within their party in some days seeking Siddaramaiah's resignation, before that, it is good for him to quit."

Predicting that there will be a fight in Congress party for the CM post, Ashoka said, "...there is already a difference between CM and Deputy CM (D K Shivakumar), six-seven ministers have already openly expressed aspiration for CM post. Hereon meetings will begin among MLAs for the CM post."

The protesting BJP lawmakers and leaders including Ashoka were later whisked away by the police in a bus, as they marched towards the Vidhana Soudha building, shouting slogans demanding CM's resignation, allegedly with an intention to lay siege to it.

A Special Court here on Wednesday ordered a Lokayukta police probe against Siddaramaiah in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment case, setting the stage for registering an FIR against him.

The order of the Special Court Judge, Santhosh Gajanan Bhat, came a day after the High Court upheld the sanction granted by the Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot to conduct an investigation against Siddaramaiah on the allegations of illegalities in the allotment of 14 sites to his wife B M Parvathi by MUDA.

The Special Court exclusively to deal with criminal cases related to former and elected MPs/MLAs issued the order directing the Lokayukta police in Mysuru to initiate an investigation on the complaint filed by RTI activist Snehamayi Krishna of Mysuru.

Even as the protest was on, Siddaramaiah reiterated on Thursday he will not resign as he again denied any wrongdoing.

Terming the charges against him a "BJP conspiracy", the CM asserted that he would wage a legal fight.

On Wednesday after the Special Court verdict, the CM had said that he was ready to face an investigation.

In the MUDA site allotment case, it is alleged that compensatory sites were allotted to Siddaramaiah's wife in an upmarket area in Mysuru, which had higher property value as compared to the location of her land which had been "acquired" by MUDA.

The MUDA had allotted plots to Parvathi under a 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of 3.16 acres of her land, where it developed a residential layout.

Under the controversial scheme, MUDA allotted 50 per cent of developed land to the land losers in lieu of undeveloped land acquired from them for forming residential layouts.

It is alleged that Parvathi had no legal title over this 3.16 acres of land at survey number 464 of Kasare village, Kasaba hobli of Mysuru taluk.