Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, on Friday, met the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) President Mallikarjuna Kharge and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi.
Accompanying the duo are state ministers including Home Minister G Parameshwar, MLC K Govindaraju and Power Minister K J George, Social Welfare Minister HC Mahadevappa, and Minority and Housing Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan.
The primary focus of these discussions is said to be strategy discussions ahead of next week’s High Court hearing on the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) ‘scam’ case.
Reports also indicate that the meetings will address pending corruption cases against the State BJP leaders. The Congress leadership is expected to devise a counter strategy to exert pressure on the Governor.
However, senior BJP leader and MLC N Ravi Kumar, addressing the media outside the party’s state office, speculated whether the trip to Delhi was to discuss a replacement for the current Karnataka CM.
Ravikumar said that when the state is in shambles because of many corruption issues and rain-related problems instead of sorting governance, the state leadership has taken a trip to Delhi to sort out internal party matters. He also criticized the State government for increases in the prices of electricity, diesel, petrol, and alcohol.
Meanwhile, an activist has approached the Governor seeking permission for prosecution against Karnataka Industries Minister MB Patil, alleging he has illegally allocated land in Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) land.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, Karnataka M.B. Patil however said that transparent procedures have been implemented by the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) for the allocation of Civic Amenities (CA) plots.
He mentioned that these plots are allocated through a transparent system according to established regulations to eligible institutions, with no reported irregularities. Patil said that, unlike commercial plots, CA plots are not auctioned. CA plots were previously directly allocated with government approval. However, this time, for more transparency, the process involves an initial evaluation by a sub-committee under the CEO of KIADB, followed by recommendations to a state-level committee chaired by the departmental minister. The final allocation is made based on this committee’s decision.
The Industries minister said that out of 193 plots covering 377.69 acres for which applications were invited, only 43 plots (96.59 acres) have been allocated, meaning only about 25 per cent of the plots have been distributed, with the remaining plots still available.
He also said that for the first time, a decision has been made during this term to reserve a set percentage of CA plots for Scheduled Castes and Tribes.