BJP reiterates demand for CBI probe into MUDA 'scam'
Bengaluru (PTI): The opposition BJP in Karnataka on Thursday reiterated its demand for a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority in the allotment of alternative sites to land losers.
The Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly R Ashoka alleged that the then MUDA Chairman and Commissioner were involved in the "scam" and they should be arrested to "bust the big racket of middlemen."
Speaking about the "illegal" formation of a residential layout on land belonging to the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's wife Parvathi in Mysuru, he said MUDA’s action raises many doubts.
“...these irregularities will come out only when the CBI is assigned to investigate the case,” Ashoka told reporters.
The BJP has alleged that alternative sites were also allotted to Parvathi in an upmarket area in Mysuru, which had higher property value as compared to the location of her land on which the MUDA formed the layout.
ALSO READ: CM Siddaramaiah rejects BJP's demand for CBI probe into MUDA ''scam''
The MUDA had allotted plots to Parvathi under a 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of over three acres of her land, on which the Authority had developed a residential layout.
The controversial scheme envisages allotting 50 per cent of developed land to the land loser in lieu of undeveloped land acquired for forming layouts.
The BJP has alleged that irregularities to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore had taken place in distribution of sites to land losers by MUDA. "Apparently 4,500-5,000 sites were allotted by flouting norms," a BJP leader claimed.
The Chief Minister on Wednesday said housing sites allotted by MUDA under the scheme to land losers have been put on hold pending an investigation into the alleged irregularities.
Ashoka said: “The land (belonging to CM’s wife) was acquired by MUDA and then denotified. I don’t know on whose pressure it was done. After the denotification, MUDA formed a layout, park and playground on that land. This gives rise to many doubts because once it is denotified, MUDA has no right to touch that piece of land, which belongs to a reputed person. Yet, the layout was formed."
He said when the Chief Minister's wife submitted an application to MUDA, she was allotted sites under the 50:50 scheme.
According to Ashoka, in Bengaluru and other parts of the state, the ratio is 60:40 -- 60 per cent of the developed land goes to the state government and the rest to the land loser.
The then MUDA Chairperson and Commissioner changed it from 60:40 to 50:50, leading the Authority incurring huge losses, he alleged.
He categorically rejected Siddaramaiah’s statement that the scheme was introduced by the previous BJP government.
“There is no BJP role in it. Our previous government had cancelled the 50:50 scheme saying this was illegal way back in 2023,” Ashoka added.
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We will move court again to resist voter deletions: Mamata
Kolkata (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday hit out at the BJP and the Election Commission over voter deletions during the SIR exercise and said her party will move a court again to resist the removal of electors from the rolls.
Her comments came after nearly 91 lakh voters' names were deleted from the electoral rolls following the completion of the Special Intensive Revision in the state.
“You will not be able to defeat the TMC by deleting names. We will move a court again to resist the exclusion of names," Banerjee said while attacking her principal challenger BJP over the roll revision exercise.
Banerjee had in February argued in the Supreme Court as she sought an intervention in the SIR process.
The EC figures, which pushed the total deletion to over 90.83 lakh names from the original voter base of 7.66 crore in October 2025, showed that the proportion of removal of electors now remains at over 11.85 per cent.
Criticising the poll panel over the SIR process, she also said, "We will fight legally to get the names included on the list as per the Constitution. If people cannot cast their votes, what is the need to frame the tribunal? And then you are saying that the list has been frozen. What is this? We will challenge it and try to understand it."
Addressing a poll rally at Arambagh in Hooghly district, the TMC supremo accused the saffron party of trying to manipulate the electoral rolls and offering money to woo voters.
Banerjee also charged the Election Commission with intimidating people over the phone.
“It (EC) is working at the behest of the BJP. It is calling people over the telephone to threaten and intimidate them,” she claimed.
Later, while speaking at a rally in Balagarh in the same district, Banerjee warned that voting for the BJP would effectively mean "giving up fish, meat, and speaking in Bengali".
“People are not allowed to eat eggs, fish, or meat in the BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. The same will happen here if the BJP comes to power," Banerjee claimed.
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