In an effort to reiterate his position with the Congress high command, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah met Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh, who is in charge of Karnataka, on Friday and explained the Arkavathi re-modification scheme cleared by his government, and the controversy around it.
While Mr. Singh was in the city to attend the party’s co-ordination committee meeting, sources said Mr. Siddaramaiah told Mr. Singh that all records related to the issue would be placed at the State legislature session beginning on Monday. He reiterated that everything was done in accordance with the Karnataka High Court directive, according to party leaders.
Meanwhile, some Congress leaders publicly defended Mr. Siddaramaiah at the ‘Truths and myths about Arkavathi Layout’, a seminar organised by the Dr. Rammanohar Lohia Vichara Vedike. At the seminar, former Speaker Ramesh Kumar termed the game plan of the Bharatiya Janata Party as “an attempt to circumstantially make Mr. Siddaramaiah a scapegoat”, and MLC V.S. Ugrappa threatened to produce documents relating to alleged scams of BJP leaders during the legislature session.
Kumaraswamy meets Speaker
Janata Dal (Secular) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy met Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa and sought “adequate” time in the Assembly to raise issues on denotification of land in Arkavathi Layout, and allocation of mining leases.
Revanna’s claim
Janata Dal (Secular) leader H.D. Revanna on Friday claimed that Principal Secretary to the Department of Urban Development had recommended to the Chief Secretary “to register a criminal case against a Cabinet Minister, who is involved in denotification of Bangalore Development Authority land”. He, however, refused to divulge the name of the Minister.
The CM says all records related to the issue will be placed at the legislature session beginning on Monday, sources said