Congress Sets Oct 6 Deadline for Katta to Quit Cabinet
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Oct 2: With state’s housing and IT, BT minister Katta Subramanya Naidu’s son Katta Jagadish, BJP corporator from Vasanthanagar, continuing in judicial custody in the alleged bribery attempt to influence a witness in the irregularities in claiming compensation for lands acquired by state Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB), the Congress party has threatened to undertake protests and take out a rally in Bangalore if the minister failed to resign by October 6.
Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president R V Deshpande said the minister should either tender his resignation on his own or else chief minister B S Yeddyurappa must sack him from the Cabinet.
''There is no justification for continuing him as the minister after state Lokayukta police arrested Katta Jagadish’s aide Raju while allegedly paying a bribe of Rs 1 lac at the residence of the minister,” Deshpande said.
If Naidu continued to hold the post after October 6, the party would take out protest rally in the city, he declared.
The Congress leaders would also call on Governor H R Bhardwaj and submit a memorandum seeking the dismissal of Naidu from the government.
Apart from Katta Jagadish, the minister’s wife Soubhagya was also involved in the land scam as revealed by Lokayutka Justice N Santosh Hegde, Deshpande said.
He said Lokayukta investigations had revealed that of the 325 acres of land acquired by the KIADB for the Itaska software company in Jala Hobli in Bangalore North taluk, a portion of land belonged to Soubhagya.
The land was purchased just a few days before the process of land acquisition began, Deshpande said pointing out that it was a clear proof that the minister was privy to the government’s move to acquire the land.
The Congress leader also lashed out the chief minister for defending Naidu on the ground that the question of dropping the minister did not arise as his son was allegedly involved in the scam because parents could not be held responsible for the wrong-doings of their wards.
Deshpande demanded a judicial probe into entire the denotifications issued for lands acquired during the BJP regime.
Yeddyurappa issued notification to denotify acquired lands in Arkavathi layout and favoured his sons and other members of the family. There was no transparency in the denotification of lands in and around Bangalore, he alleged.