While the State government is taking shelter behind the judicial commission, with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah strongly defending the Arkavathi denotification citing legal reasons, the Janata Dal (Secular), which threatened to raise the issue in the session by placing “clinching” evidence, finally released a 490-page book chronicling “illegalities”, but outside the House on Friday, as it was unsure of an opportunity to raise the issue on the Floor of the House.
Taking up the issue during discussion on motion of thanks to the Governor’s address on Friday, Leader of the Opposition Jagadish Shettar cited the in-depth report on the issue published by The Hindu (February 5, 2015) where Mr. Siddaramaiah admitted that he was not aware of any contradictory reports on the deletion of land. BJP members demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the entire gamut of issues on the denotification.
Mr. Siddaramaiah dismissed media reports as “baseless”, pointing an accusing finger at the BJP’s previous tenure in the government. “We will extend complete cooperation to the inquiry panel,” he said.
Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa said the issue could not be discussed on the floor of the House as that amounts to influencing the probe panel. Mr. Shettar declared that the BJP “would not rest” till the issue was taken to its logical end.
