Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his wife B M Parvati have been at the epicentre of the 4000-crore Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam over the ownership of 3.16-acre agricultural land.
According to a report by The Indian Express, Siddarmaiah had submitted 3 contradictory election affidavits during the 2013, 2018 and 2023 Karnataka Vidhan Sabha elections concerning the said land parcel.
For the unversed, the 3.16-acre agricultural land was bought by the Siddaramaiah’s brother-in-law B M Mallikarjunaswamy during the 2004-2005 period. Mallikarjunaswamy had gifted the land parcel to his sister and the Karnataka CM’s wife, B M Parvati, in 2010.
No mention of land parcel in 2013 election affidavit of Siddaramaiah
Although it had been 3 years by then, the 2013 election affidavit of Siddaramaiah did not show ownership of any agricultural land by his wife.
“2013: The poll affidavit filed by Siddaramaiah, three years after the land was received as a gift by his wife, indicates no agricultural land ownership by her during the period,” reported The Indian Express.
“The election affidavit of the CM in 2013 does not mention the acquisition of the 3.16 acres. It is a violation of the election code of conduct and violation of Representation of People Act,” remarked BJP president B Y Vijayendra on Wednesday (10th July).
Contradictions in the 2018 election affidavit
In 2014, the Karnataka CM and his wife BM Parvati claimed that Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) acquired the 3.16-acre agricultural land without informing them and sought an alternate site in exchange.
But the election affidavit of Siddaramaiah in the 2018 Karnataka election shows otherwise.
The Indian Express reported, “2018: Siddaramaiah’s affidavit mentions his wife’s ownership of the land. “Gift received from my brother B M Mallikarjunaswamy, Dt 20-10-2010,” says the column for agricultural land owned by the CM’s spouse.”
New MUDA scheme and the 2023 election affidavit
In 2020, the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) formulated a 50:50 alternate land allocation scheme.
A year later, the governmental agency allotted 38,284 sq feet of alternate land (0.88 acres) in the Vijayanagar area of Mysuru to Siddaramaiah’s wife BM Parvati. The land area was equivalent to 14 housing sites (valued at ₹20 crores).
As per The Indian Express, the 2023 election affidavit read, “Shows allotment of 37,190.09 sq ft of land by MUDA in exchange for the Kesare village land in the column for non-agricultural land held by Siddaramaiah’s spouse in April 2023.”
The English daily, however, pointed out that Karnataka’s Record for Rights, Tenancy and Crops still showed BM Parvati as the owner of the 3.16 acres for the 2023-24 period in contravention of the 2023 election affidavit of Siddaramaiah.
Differential pricing of acquired land and MUDA scam
The Opposition BJP and JDS in Karnataka have demanded that Siddaramaiah return the 14 housing sites given to him. The Karnataka CM fired back by putting forth the demand of ₹62 crores for 3.16 acres of agricultural land, gifted to his wife by his brother-in-law.
Interestingly, the value of the said land parcel was mentioned as ₹25 lakhs in the 2018 election affidavit of Siddaramaiah. The glaring difference in the pricing was also highlighted by the Opposition parties in the State.
These allegations and more form the basis of the ‘MUDA scam‘, the raging controversy in the political spheres of Karnataka.
According to activist S Krishna, B M Mallikarjunaswamy lied about buying the 3.16-acre agricultural land from a Dalit farmer in 2004-2005.
He said that the brother-in-law of Siddaramaiah owned the land parcel using fabricated records and that the land was acquired by MUDA in back in 1992.
BJP leader Vishwanath added a new angle to the controversy by highlighting that Siddaramaiah’s brother-in-law could not have purchased the land from a Dalit. “The land was denotified in the name of the SC/ST owners and it could not have been bought,” he emphasised.
Such a prohibition on the purchase of lands stems from the 1979 law – The Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prohibition of Transfer of Certain Lands) Act.
While Siddaramaiah has refused any wrongdoing, the Opposition is firm in its demand for CBI probe into the matter.
