Karnataka CM’s wife ‘illegally’ given land, says BJP; Siddaramaiah denies charge

MUDA developed layouts on 3 acres and 16 guntas property near Mysuru Outer Ring Road — donated as a gift deed to his wife by her brother Mallikarjun — and distributed it. “Then we lost our land as it became MUDA property. Should we lose our property? In exchange, MUDA decided to allot an alternate site of the same value to us,” he said.

Leader of Opposition R Ashoka pegged the extent of alleged irregularities at MUDA at Rs 4,000 crore. “Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, there are reports that an alternate site has been allotted in violation of the law in your wife’s name too. How do you defend this?” he said. Accusing the government of protecting the officials involved in the alleged irregularities, Ashoka said rather than suspending the officials, the government had merely transferred them.

“Can such a big scam take place in your native district (Mysuru) without coming to your notice and without your involvement,” he said in a post on X.

Defending Siddaramaiah, his deputy D K Shivakumar ruled out any irregularities. “She got the site because she was eligible under the (50:50) scheme,” he said.

MUDA distributed alternate sites to land losers after developing layouts in the 50:50 ratio, where 50% of the sites went to land losers. A government order stated that multiple sites were distributed to those who did not lose land for the development of sites.

Over the past two years, over 3,000 alternate sites were allotted in areas such as Vijayanagar, Dattagalli, JP Nagar and RT Nagar – where the value of land was higher than in areas MUDA had developed the layouts at, the order said.

Minister of Urban Development and Town Planning Byrathi Suresh has formed a panel, headed by Commissioner of Urban Authorities R Venkatachalapathy, to probe into the allegations. The panel has been asked to submit its report within 15 days, official sources said.

Following a review meeting Monday, Suresh said the government had issued two orders to MUDA over the last eight months to cancel site allotments under the scheme until the department issued detailed guidelines. However, in the wake of allegations that the allotments are still going on, the government has instituted an inquiry, he said.