MUDA scam: Ready to return site if compensation is paid for land lost, says Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah

The MUDA scam came out earlier this week following complaints that several people received larger sites than they were entitled to, and some received alternate sites at localities such as Vijayanagar, J P Nagar, and RT Nagar – where the guidance value of land was higher than in places the layouts were made – resulting in losses to the tune of hundreds of crores for MUDA.

The MUDA scam was different from the row over the compensatory site given to his wife, Siddaramaiah said. “MUDA should have compensated with the same extent of land they acquired. Can I let it go just because I am the CM?” he said. The alternate site measuring 38,284 square feet – 0.88 acre – was sanctioned after his wife petitioned MUDA in 2021, when the BJP was in power, the CM added.

The BJP is taking this up because they have no issues to target the government with, he said.

The government also deputed the legal advisor to CM, A S Ponnanna, to mount a defence against the allegations made against the CM. “The compensation received by his wife is being depicted as a big scam,” he said. Although Parvati received less than the land she lost, she did not contest the compensation, he added.

Ponnanna pegged the value of the compensatory site offered at around Rs 15-16 crore.

The BJP, meanwhile, has pressed for a CBI probe over alleged irregularities at MUDA. However, Siddaramaiah has shrugged off the demands.

During the recent BJP state-level executive committee meeting, BJP Parliamentary Board member B S Yediyurappa said the party would expose all the scams of the Congress government.

Apart from the row over the MUDA scam, the Congress is also under attack over the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation scam, which saw the resignation of B Nagendra as minister from the Siddaramaiah Cabinet.