Seeking to take the battle to his detractors’ court, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa plans to bring out a “charge sheet” against JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda and his family members on the issue of land scams.
Unfazed by the opposition campaign for his removal, Mr. Yeddyurappa also declared that his government is going to last a full five-year term and central leaders of the BJP were “happy about my performance”.
He said he was going in for a cabinet reshuffle in first week of next month which will see some changes in portfolios.
“I want to publish a charge sheet against Mr. Deve Gowda and his family members before Parliament session. So many illegal transactions have taken place, especially land scams. Let them discuss it in Parliament,” Mr. Yeddyurappa told reporters after meeting top BJP leaders L K Advani and Arun Jaitley.
Reeling out figures about the allotments of stray sites, (G category sites) by his predecessors, he said the opposition parties are “blaming my government” for such allotments. He tried to drive home the point that such actions by his government were less in number compared to earlier dispensations.
He said under the G category, former Chief Ministers S M Krishna had allotted 334 sites, Dharam Singh 76, H D Kumaraswamy 286 and his government 172. He alleged that Deve Gowda had allotted 46 sites to his family in Mysore and there has been “no answer” from them in spite of his public charge.
He said that Mr. Gowda and his party was resorting to “hit and run” policy against his government and therefore to counter them he will be bringing out the “charge sheet” which needed to be discussed in Parliament.
Replying to a question, the Chief Minister said that his “remove Governor” H R Bhardwaj campaign was now over.
Only last month, the battle against the Governor, with whom the Chief Minister has frequently been at loggerheads, had flared up with even senior party leaders petitioning the President for his recall.
In an apparent move to expand his base among the rural people, Mr. Yeddyurappa said that his government would be presenting a separate budget for farmers on February 24, which, he claimed, was the first of its kind in the country.
He also dismissed charges that the FIR against Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman and Congress leader K Rahman Khan for alleged financial irregularities filed by his Government were politically motivated.
“He is my close friend. I do not want to discuss about it. But there were specific charges against him in connection with Amanat Cooperative Bank in Bangalore,” he said.
The FIR alleges financial irregularities by Mr. Khan and two others to the tune of Rs 102.02 crore in the bank.
