Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge Reacts to High Court’s Decision on CM Siddaramaiah’s Plea
New Delhi, India, September 24: Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge expressed that he was not surprised by the High Court’s dismissal of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s plea against the governor’s sanction to prosecute him in the alleged MUDA land allotment scam. Kharge emphasized that the Congress party believes in the law and the Constitution.
Kharge stated, “I am not surprised. The idea of involving the Governor and Governor’s Office was to ensure that this plays out like this. The Governor has very clearly overstepped his legal ambit and he has done these things. We see this as a standard operating procedure, we see this as a playbook – what happened in Jharkhand, what happened in Delhi, we are seeing that in Karnataka as well.”
He added, “We still believe in the law of the land; we believe in the Constitution of India. The BJP might have the Governor of Karnataka with them, we have Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Constitution with us.”
Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar’s Response
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar stated that there is no question of resignation and called the situation 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 Chief Minister done anything wrong, they are creating problem. We stand by him, we support him. He has been doing a 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. “I am telling you again, there is no setback to the CM. It is a big conspiracy on all our leaders, including me which we have faced earlier. Didn’t I come out clean? So, we will fight it out. We respect the legal system of this country. Injustice will not be flown from the seat of justice. We will get justice,” Shivakumar said.
Congress Party’s Stand
The Karnataka Congress asserted that their fight against “injustice” will continue and accused state Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot of “covering-up” complaints against Kumaraswamy and other BJP leaders. They stated, “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.”
BJP’s Demand
The BJP has demanded the immediate resignation of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Karnataka BJP president BY Vijayendra said, “BJP has been relentlessly fighting against the corrupt Congress government. We have been fighting against the corrupt CM Siddaramaiah…When BJP took up the issue of MUDA scam…HC said that the petition challenged by the CM has been dismissed. The judge has observed that all are equal before the law. At this juncture I demand CM Siddaramiah ji to resign.”
High Court’s Decision
The Karnataka High Court dismissed Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s petition challenging the approval given by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot for conducting an investigation against him in the alleged illegalities in Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) allotting sites to his wife. The single judge bench of Justice Nagaprasanna stated that the order of sanction for prosecution does not suffer from non-application of mind by the Governor. It is alleged that MUDA illegally allotted 14 sites to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife in the prime location of Mysuru city.
In an interim order passed on August 19, the High Court 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. On August 31, the office of the Karnataka Governor told the High Court that the sanction granted to prosecute Karnataka Chief Minister K Siddaramaiah in the alleged MUDA scam was done after “application of mind.”
Doubts Revealed
Karnataka Minister -: A Karnataka Minister is a person who helps run the government in the state of Karnataka, which is in the southern part of India.
Priyank Kharge -: Priyank Kharge is a politician in Karnataka and the son of Mallikarjun Kharge, a senior Congress leader.
High Court -: The High Court is a big court in India that makes important decisions about laws and justice in a state.
CM Siddaramaiah -: CM Siddaramaiah is the Chief Minister of Karnataka, which means he is the head of the state government.
Plea -: A plea is a request made to a court asking for a specific decision or action.
Governor’s sanction -: Governor’s sanction means the governor’s official permission to take legal action against someone.
Prosecute -: To prosecute means to officially accuse someone of a crime and try to prove they are guilty in court.
MUDA land allotment scam -: MUDA land allotment scam is a case where people are accused of unfairly giving away land in Mysore, a city in Karnataka.
Deputy CM DK Shivakumar -: Deputy CM DK Shivakumar is the second-in-command in the Karnataka government, helping the Chief Minister.
Political conspiracy -: A political conspiracy is when people secretly plan to do something unfair or illegal to gain political power.
BJP -: BJP stands for Bharatiya Janata Party, a major political party in India.
Congress party -: The Congress party is another major political party in India, often in competition with the BJP.
Injustice -: Injustice means something that is unfair or not right.
Resignation -: Resignation means quitting a job or position, often because of a problem or disagreement.
Proper consideration -: Proper consideration means thinking carefully and fairly about something before making a decision.
