MUDA land scam: BJP-JD(S) leaders have no moral right to seek my resignation, says CM Siddaramaiah
Mysuru (Karnataka), Aug 9: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday slammed the opposition BJP-JD(S) for their "Mysuru Chalo" march over an alleged land scam, saying none of their leaders have a moral right to question him and asked people to drive the "Manuvadis" out.
A day prior to the culmination of the "Mysuru Chalo" campaign, the march from Bengaluru to Mysuru demanding the chief minister's resignation alleging that his wife had benefited from an alternative site scam in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), Siddaramaiah hit out at the opposition in a major showdown in his hometown.
The opposition has alleged that Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathi got alternative plots in the upmarket against the 'acquisition' of 3 acres 16 guntas of land in a remote part of the city.
Speaking at the mega "Janandolana" convention at Maharaja's College Grounds here to counter the opposition's allegations and their foot march, Siddaramaiah said, "August 9 happens to be the anniversary of the historic Quit India movement to drive out the British from India."
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"Today we have to drive out communal, casteist and feudal people. We have to oppose and condemn the Manuvadis, casteists and feudal lords who are unable to tolerate backward and exploited people. Hence, this event (Janandolana)."
He alleged former Congress CMs Devaraj Urs, S Bangarappa and M Veerapa Moily were forced to step down since they came from backward communities.
The chief minister also alleged that former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda and his son and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy backtracked from their promise given to former CM N Dharam Singh to run a Congress-JD(S) coalition government in 2006 and shook hands with "communal" BJP to throw him out of power.
The BJP and the JD(S) have no moral right to question him since their leaders were involved in scams, Siddaramaiah said.
The chief minister sought to know what moral right, the leader of the opposition in the Karnataka Assembly, R Ashoka, former chief minister B S Yediyurappa, his son and BJP state president B Y Vijayendra, besides Kumaraswamy, have to seek his resignation.
"If Yediyurappa has any shame, he should have retired from politics. He is 82 years old. He is an accused in a POCSO Act case in which charge sheet had been filed. He is asking me to resign by August 10. What moral right does he have? Did he do just one or two scams? He was caught in 18 to 20 scams," Siddaramaiah said.
Alleging that Vijayendra was also caught in several scams, the chief minister reminded that BJP’s Vijayapura MLA Yatnal had also said that Vijayendra had looted several thousands of crores of rupees.
"Kumaraswamy, what moral right do you have? Have you forgotten the Jantakal mining case? You gave renewal to 20 companies. You have any shame to seek my resignation?” Siddaramaiah asked.
He also hit out at Ashoka, saying that as the land grant committee chairperson, he gave away 2,200 acres of land in BM Kaval in Bengaluru.
"These people have to reply now. I never pursued the politics of hatred and vendetta. If I was like that then such a situation would not have arisen in the first place. They would have gone to jail," the chief minister charged.
Siddaramaiah alleged that the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, Kumaraswamy, Yediyurappa, Vijayendra and Ashoka were involved in a conspiracy to remove him.
He termed the complainant of the MUDA scam, T J Abraham, as a person who has no credibility.
"Who is this Abraham? The SC has slapped a penalty of Rs 25 lakh (on him in the past). A charge sheet has been filed against him on a complaint by a KAS officer, Dr Sudha, that he was blackmailing her," the chief minister said.
The charge sheet was filed against Abraham on August 5, 10 days after the Governor issued a show-cause notice to Siddaramaiah asking him why permission should not be given to prosecute him in the MUDA scam.
The show of strength saw all the Congress top guns from Karnataka, including general secretary (Karnataka) in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala, state Congress president and deputy CM D K Shivakumar, ministers and MLAs rallying behind Siddaramaiah.
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Rupee falls 17 paise to 92.71 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee depreciated 17 paise to 92.71 against US dollar in early trade on Thursday as the fragile ceasefire and Iran's threat to step out of the talks if Israel kept bombing Lebanon kept investors wary.
Forex traders said markets are in a wait-and-watch mode rather than strong directional positioning as the situation in West Asia remains fragile.
Geo-Political uncertainty was still high amid Iran’s threat to step out of the talks if Israel kept bombing Lebanon, keeping investors wary of the opening of the Strait of Hormuz.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 92.63 against the US dollar, then gained ground to touch 92.71 against the US dollar in initial trade, registering a gain of 17 paise over its previous close.
On Wednesday, the rupee had settled at 92.54 against the American currency.
Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz again in response to Israeli attacks in Lebanon. The White House demanded that the channel be reopened and sought to keep peace talks on track.
"The fragile ceasefire could be jeopardized by the renewed Middle East tensions as Israel struck Lebanon and Iran warned of moving out of the ceasefire if strikes against Lebanon continued," Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, said.
This caused the dollar index to rise to 99.10, with the Euro and GBP both falling against the dollar. Asian currencies also fell from their Wednesday highs.
The RBI left Interest rates unchanged on Wednesday but flagged risks to the Indian economy from disruptions caused by the Iran war, Bhansali noted.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was down 0.10 per cent at 99.03
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading higher by 1.93 per cent at USD 96.52 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex dropped 243.57 points to 77,319.33 in opening trade, while the Nifty declined 88.3 points to 23,909.05.
Foreign Institutional Investors offloaded equities worth Rs 2,811.97 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met senior US officials here and discussed ways to further deepen the defence and trade relations and exchanged views on the developments in the Indo-Pacific and West Asia.
On a three-day visit here, Misri met under secretaries Michael Duffey and Elbridge Colby in the Department of Defence, and under secretaries Jeffrey Kessler and William Kimmitt in the Department of Commerce.
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