Bengaluru: The anti-corruption crusader TJ Abraham has demanded Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot’s urgent intervention to prosecute Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment scandal.
Abraham, a relentless advocate for transparency and justice, met with the Governor on Friday to push for legal action against Siddaramaiah under Section 218 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, and Sections 17A and 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
This call for prosecution is not without precedent. Abraham, head of the Anti-Graft/Corruption and Environmental Forum, drew a direct comparison to the infamous case of former Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa.
In that scandal, Governor Hansraj Bharadwaj’s consent for prosecution led to a high-profile FIR, a grueling trial, and ultimately Yediyurappa’s imprisonment in 2011. If history is any guide, Siddaramaiah’s alleged misdeeds could follow a similarly damning path.
The catalyst for this latest legal push is a damning complaint filed with the Lokayukta police in Mysuru on July 18.
Abraham accuses Siddaramaiah of orchestrating the illegal allotment of 14 prime sites in the affluent Vijayanagar area to his wife, BM Parvathi, on January 5, 2022. This alleged act of corruption is said to have inflicted a staggering Rs 45-crore loss on the state’s treasury.
The accusations do not stop with the Chief Minister. The complaint implicates a web of alleged conspirators, including Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathi, their MLA-son S Yatindra, MUDA Commissioner DB Natesh, and MUDA Chief HV Rajeev. This intricate web of alleged corruption paints a grim picture of a system seemingly rotten at its core.
As Karnataka holds its breath, the call for justice reverberates through the corridors of power. The question now is whether Governor Gehlot will take decisive action, or if this case will become yet another example of political impunity.
