Facing probe on MUDA 'scam', K'taka CM, quoting Gandhi, says 'court of conscience' above all courts

NT Correspondent Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is facing the Lokayukta and ED probes on MUDA 'scam', on Wednesday quoted Mahatma Gandhi, who said the "court of conscience" was above all courts. He said Gandhi might have been killed, but his ideals cannot be killed; truth and non-violence cannot be killed. "Mahatma Gandhi ji had said there is a highest court above all our courts and that is the court of conscience, it surpasses all the other courts.... sometimes everyone may not get justice from the courts, but I can clearly say that, as Gandhi ji said the courts we see cannot be above this court of conscience," Siddaramaiah said.

Addressing the Gandhi Jayanti event organised by the 'Gandhi Smaraka Nidhi', he said, "So all of us should try to conduct ourselves in accordance with our conscience, irrespective whether others like it or not, whether they oppose or appreciate, but we should try to work according to our conscience." These remarks from the Chief Minister, have come at a time when Lokayukta and ED probes are on against him in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment case, as per the direction of the courts. Lokayukta police on September 27 registered an FIR against Siddaramaiah, his wife Parvathi, brotherin- law Mallikarjuna Swamy, Devaraju from whom Mallikarjuna Swamy purchased land and gifted it to Parvathi and others, following a Special Court order on September 25.

The order of the Special Court came a day after the High Court upheld the sanction granted by the Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot to conduct an investigation against Siddaramaiah. The ED has also registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), equivalent to an FIR by police, against the Chief Minister over the alleged irregularities in allotment of 14 sites to his wife by the MUDA. Noting that the Congress party and its government has always been committed to the Constitution, the CM highlighted various welfare programmes of his government including the five guarantee schemes, asserting that it is aimed at giving economic and social strength to weaker sections.

The caste system cannot be eradicated easily, he said, adding, Gandhi fought against caste system and untouchability, but untouchability is still there in many places. "Caste system, inequality cannot go by mere speeches... when there is equality in education, when everyone is equal economically and socially, caste system can go," he added. Siddarmaiah also remembered former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, whose birth anniversary is also observed today, as one of the honest politicians the country has seen.