ED team’s visit to MUDA is no ‘raid’, says DKS; Ashok insists it’s not politically motivated

Even as Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar questioned the description of the visit of Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials to the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) on Friday as a “raid”, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly R. Ashok said the action of the central agency wasn’t politically motivated as alleged by the Congress.

Speaking to reporters, Mr. Ashok said the ED “raid” followed claims by Congress leaders themselves that around 1,200 sites, including the ones sanctioned to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife, Parvathi, had been allotted under the contentious 50:50 ratio scheme by MUDA, which took the magnitude of the alleged scam to ₹3,000 to ₹4,000 crore.

Only after Congress leader K. Mari Gowda, who recently resigned as MUDA chairman, brought the matter to light did activist Snehamayi Krishna lodge a complaint with the ED, said Mr. Ashok. “There is no question of politics in the matter. There is no role of either the BJP or the Centre in it,” he claimed.

Mr. Shivakumar, meanwhile, said the ED may be gathering information as part of its investigation. “How can you call it a raid? They may ask for certain documents and review them,” he said, replying to questions on the ED officials’ visit to MUDA office on Friday.

No tweaking documents

The Deputy Chief minister also ruled out the possibility of tweaking documents pertaining to the alleged irregularities in the allotment of sites by MUDA. “No tweaking of documents is possible as all the documents in the case are public already. We will fight this legally and place the truth before the people,” he said.

“As per the information I have received, they have asked for some information and I don’t know whether those documents have been given or not. Perhaps, they may have gone to MUDA to collect those documents themselves,” he said.

Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy raised suspicion over the possibility of the Congress covering up the MUDA scam and hence sought a CBI probe into the matter. He alleged that Urban Development Minister Byrathi Suresh had brought all the crucial documents pertaining to the MUDA scam in a helicopter to Bengaluru.

Role of Kumar Naik

Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha member belonging to the BJP Lahar Singh Siroya raised questions over the alleged role of Raichur Congress MP G. Kumar Naik in the MUDA case.

Citing what he called “adverse references” by the Karnataka High Court on the role of Mr. Naik, a former Deputy Commissioner of Mysuru, in the “conversion of a parcel of land that did not exist”, Mr. Siroya questioned why everyone was silent on the Raichur Congress MP’s role in the case.

Published - October 18, 2024 09:41 pm IST