MUDA ‘scam’: Congress announces protests in Karnataka on August 19 against conspiracy to ‘finish off Siddaramaiah’

MUDA ‘Scam’: The Congress has announced state-wide protests in Karnataka on Monday, August 19, against the Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot's nod to prosecute Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the MUDA alternative site 'scam'.

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who is also the Congress state president, on Sunday said, “The protest rallies will be held in all district headquarters across the state. All party leaders and workers will participate.”

Shivakumar said he has instructed the party leaders to carry out peaceful protests and ensure that anti-social elements do not infiltrate the rallies and create trouble.

Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot said that that sanction for the prosecution of Siddaramaiah in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment 'scam’ was based on complaints by T J Abraham, Pradeep Kumar S P and Snehamayi Krishna.

The sanction granted on Saturday triggered calls for Siddaramaiah's resignation by BJP. The Karnataka CM, however, refuted all claims and ruled out the possibility of resignation saying "I have done no wrong'.

Karnataka Deputy CM on Saturday called upon his party leaders and workers to take out a kilometre long march to the Taluk and district level offices and submit memoranda addressed to the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, against the Governor's move.

"You all know that the BJP and the JD(S) are hatching a big conspiracy against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. It's our duty to fight against it," he said in a post on 'X'.

Shivakumar said the Congress will fight against the conspiracy that aims to "finish off Siddaramaiah".

On Saturday, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah alleged that a ‘conspiracy is being done by the central government, BJP, JDS and local leaders of Karnataka.’

CM Siddaramaiah accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of ‘not tolerating this government, leadership’.

Stating that such a decision by the Karnataka Governor was expected, Siddaramaiah said, "We had expected this, I too had expected this. When the Governor on July 26, the very day he received the petition, issued me a show cause notice. What does it mean?"

What is MUDA ‘Scam’?

The Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), originally established as the City Improvement Trust Board (CITB) in 1904 during the Mysuru Maharajas' reign, has recently faced intense scrutiny. Media reports have highlighted serious irregularities in how MUDA has allotted residential sites to land losers as compensation.

Amid the controversy, Parvathi Siddaramaiah, wife of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, has come under the spotlight. She was reportedly allocated 14 residential sites in a high-end development area in exchange for her 3 acres and 16 guntas of land acquired by MUDA.