Karnataka BJP President Demands CM Siddaramaiah’s Resignation Over Land Scam

Bengaluru, Karnataka – Karnataka BJP president BY Vijayendra has demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah after the High Court dismissed his plea challenging the Governor’s sanction to prosecute him in the alleged MUDA land allotment scam.

Vijayendra stated, “BJP has been relentlessly fighting against the corrupt Congress government. But they said that BJP is doing a political conspiracy against us. The High Court in its judgment has clearly said that the decision taken by the Governor is correct. Accepting this decision, the Chief Minister should resign immediately.”

The Karnataka High Court dismissed Siddaramaiah’s petition challenging the approval given by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot for an investigation into alleged illegalities in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) allotting sites to his wife. Justice Nagaprasanna stated that the order of sanction for prosecution does not suffer from non-application of mind by the Governor.

BJP leader CT Ravi welcomed the verdict, saying, “We welcome this. Law is the same for everyone. Is there a separate law for Siddaramaiah? This does not happen in this country. The Constitution is the same for everyone. Corruption has taken place. He should resign. Is corruption politically motivated? Did we tell him to do corruption?… Did the Opposition tell him to do that? We didn’t tell him to do that…They did that and now they are accusing the BJP. I would like to give them one suggestion, resign to save your dignity.”

Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje added, “The land which belongs to Dalits was allotted to CM Siddaramaiah’s wife…CM Siddaramaiah always misused his position and he should immediately resign to ensure an impartial investigation…”

However, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar dismissed the resignation demand, calling it a “political conspiracy” by the BJP. He said, “There is no question (of resignation) by CM. He has not done anything wrong. He is not involved with any scam. This is a political conspiracy by the BJP to all of us, to all the opposition leaders of the country…so there is no question of why the Chief Minister did anything wrong, they are creating problems. We stand by him, we support him. He has been doing good work for the country, party and state.”

Shivakumar further denied any setback to the Chief Minister and reiterated that there is a “big conspiracy” against all the leaders of the Congress. He asserted that the party respects the legal system of the country.

Reacting to the judgment, Karnataka Congress stated that their fight against “injustice” will continue. They accused Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot of “covering-up” complaints against Kumaraswamy and other BJP leaders. “The fight against Injustice will continue; there is no question of yielding to the Governor’s attempts to destabilize the government or the BJP’s conspiracy. It is well known that the Governor has tried to cover up complaints against Kumaraswamy and other BJP leaders. The Governor’s questioning of how these complaints were leaked only provides further evidence of his biased politics,” the state unit of the Congress said on X.

It is alleged that MUDA illegally allotted 14 sites to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife in the prime location of Mysuru city. The High Court, in its interim order passed on August 19, had granted temporary relief to Siddaramaiah by directing a special court in Bengaluru to defer further proceedings and not to take any precipitative action pursuant to the sanction granted by the Governor.