Cong warns against BJP leaders ploy to sue CM

BENGALURU: The state Congress leaders on Monday cautioned Governor Vajubhai Vala against BJP leaders’ attempts to misuse Raj Bhavan by seeking permission to prosecute Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in a land denotification case.Addressing a joint press conference at the party headquarters in the city, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) Working President Dinesh Gundu Rao and the party leader VS Ugrappa said BJP leaders are trying to put pressure on the Governor to accord sanction to prosecute the CM.

They said Union Minister Prakash Javadekar had a secret meeting with the governor to discuss the issue.
On December 20, BJP leaders BJ Puttaswamy and Aravinda Limbavali had met Governor and submitted a petition seeking permission to prosecute Siddaramaiah in a land denotification case. The BJP leaders had stated that six acres and 26 guntas of land was notified in Bhoopsandra in Bengaluru North taluk for the creation of residential areas in 1982, was subsequently denotified in June 2016, in violation of Supreme Court orders which had upheld the notification.  

The Chief Minister had termed it as a baseless allegation.
Gundu Rao said BJP leaders, who looted the state’s natural resources, went to jail in illegal mining cases and brought disrepute to the state, are now making baseless allegations against the CM.The Governor should not give in to pressure from the BJP leaders to accord sanction to prosecute the CM in a false case as that would amount to misuse of power, Ugrappa added.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Javadekar, who is in the city to attend BJP State Core Committee meeting on Tuesday, said the Congress is making a baseless allegations as they do not have any issues to take on the BJP. “The Governor is not even in town. Where is the question of our meeting? There was no such meeting as accused by the Congress leaders,’’ said Javadekar, who is also party’s election in-charge in Karnataka.