From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Jul 26: Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar attacked the opposition BJP’s padayatra as a ‘ploy to tarnish the image of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’ by raising the alleged irregularities in Mysuru Urban Development Authority’s (MUDA) Muda sites.

Addressing a press conference at the KPCC office on Friday, he said: “It is the Congress party which introduced padayatras in India. Padayatra is our product. Now, the BJP is planning a padayatra from Bengaluru to Mysuru against the alleged NUDA scam to bring disrepute to our Chief Minister.”

After its defeat in the State Assembly polls, the BJP and its ally JDS are trying to destabilize the Congress government in the State, he alleged.

Shivakumar, who is also the KPCC president, said: “BJP is the master of scams and they are digging their own grave in this case. Karnataka is the biggest state that Congress party is in power and hence they are trying to bring it down at any cost. Let them do what they want, we will respond to it appropriately.”

He said the State government is investigating the Valmiki Corporation case. But the BJP has sent its own agencies to investigate and create unnecessary trouble.

“Let them fight it out legally rather than trying to garner publicity and target people,” he said.

“They are trying similar trick by raising the MUDA case. The BJP and JDS know that they are losing ground in the State and hence have joined hands to carry out a padayatra. We will expose them in this case by releasing a list of sites illegally allotted during their tenure,” he declared.

Shivakumar said MUDA had taken over land belonging to the Chief Minister without issuing any notification. Later, it allotted sites as compensation for that land. The by-laws allow allotment of sites if land is acquired without any notification.

The Chief Minister’s family has not asked for sites in specific locality but accepted whatever was allotted by MUDA. These sites were allotted during the previous BJP government. Sites have been allotted to others during the same time and the minister concerned will give details on this.

“We will reveal details of all the scams that took place during the BJP government. As far as the Chief Minister’s family is concerned, everything has happened within the legal framework,” he said.

Asked about BJP’s plan to stage a protest against the alleged MUDA irregularities in the Parliament, he said: “It is just a conspiracy to destabilize our government as they are scared that the INDIA alliance is getting stronger by the day.”

“On each day of the BJP-JDS padayatra from Bengaluru to Mysuru, we will expose one scam a day. The Chief Minister has already listed out the scams by the BJP. By doing the padayatra, they have given us an opportunity to expose their scams,” he said.

He, however, asked the BJP to answer questions about scams during their tenure before their padayatra.

“Let them disclose the names of Chief Minister, Ministers and officials involved in the scams. I am ready for a discussion on this on any media platform or public forum if H D Kumaraswamy, B S Yediyurappa, Jagadish Shettar, Basavaraj Bommai and R Ashok are ready to debate,” he challenged.

Youth Cong enrolment drive from Aug 16

The KPCC Chief said the party would undertake a massive membership enrolment drive by Youth Congress from August 16 to September 16 and also start the process of internal elections.

Shivakumar said the party would start the process of rebuilding and strengthening the organisational structure by holding membership enrolment drive and elections.

He said the Congress party will be undertaking a special programme to mark the 100 years since Mahatma Gandhi became the Congress President. A committee headed by Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil, former Chief Minister Veerappa Moily as a guide and BL Shankar as convenor has been constituted.