No Cong leader has staked claim for CM post, says party chief Shivakumar

NT Correspondent Bengaluru: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress chief D K Shivakumar on Thursday said no party leader has staked claim for the post of Chief Minister in the backdrop of the incumbent Siddaramaiah facing a Lokayukta probe in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) sites allotment case. He also ruled out the possibility of Siddaramaiah stepping down from the post in the wake of a special court here on Wednesday ordering a probe by the Lokayukta police in Mysuru against in the MUDA 'scam', setting the stage for registering an FIR against him. “There is no question of demanding (resignation). It's a political conspiracy against the Chief Minister. There is no strength in it (case). They (opposition parties) are unnecessarily trying to create politics. We will face it legally,” Shivakumar told PTI Videos. “We stand committed. We will support him (Siddaramaiah). There is no question of his resignation,” he added.

When asked about reports of some leaders staking claim for the CM post, Shivakumar said: “No question of it. No one is claiming. When myself being a deputy CM is not claiming, where is the point of others?” The order of the Special Court Judge, Santhosh Gajanan Bhat, came a day after the High Court upheld the sanction granted by the Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot to conduct an investigation against Siddaramaiah on the allegations of illegalities in the allotment of 14 sites to his wife B M Parvathi by MUDA. T

he Special Court exclusively to deal with criminal cases related to former and elected MPs/MLAs issued the order directing the Lokayukta police in Mysuru to initiate an investigation on the complaint filed by RTI activist Snehamayi Krishna of Mysuru. In the MUDA site allotment case, it is alleged that compensatory sites were allotted to Siddaramaiah's wife in an upmarket area in Mysuru, which had higher property value as compared to the location of her land which had been "acquired" by the MUDA.

The MUDA had allotted plots to Parvathi under a 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of 3.16 acres of her land, where it developed a residential layout. Under the controversial scheme, MUDA allotted 50 per cent of developed land to the land losers in lieu of undeveloped land acquired from them for forming residential layouts. It is alleged that Parvathi had no legal title over this 3.16 acres of land at survey number 464 of Kasare village of Mysuru taluk.