MUDA row: Big blow to Siddaramaiah, Karnataka HC dismisses plea against governor nod to prosecute him

Siddaramaiah asserted that the land for which his wife received compensation was a gift from her brother Mallikarjuna in 1998.

The Karnataka High Court on September 24 dismissed chief minister Siddaramaiah's petition challenging governor Thawar Chand Gehlot's decision to sanction his prosecution in the alleged MUDA land case, dealing a blow to the Congress leader with the opposition BJP stepping up pressure on him to quit.

The governor "did apply his mind in abundance" and was not bound by the cabinet’s advice, Justice M Nagaprasanna said. "There is, therefore, no fault in the governor's actions, as far as the order (to prosecute the chief minister) is concerned", the court said in its decision which was being closely tracked. “The governor has to act on aid and advice (of the cabinet) in normal cases but this is an exception,” the high court said.

While the BJP sought to pile pressure on the CM, his deputy DK Shivakumar, seen by many as a contender for the top job, said there was no reason for Siddaramaiah to quit.

"There is no question (of resignation) by CM. He has not done anything wrong. He is not involved with any scam. This is a political conspiracy by the BJP,” Shivakumar told mediapersons. “We stand by him, we support him. He has been doing a good work for the country, party and the state."

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi represented Siddaramaiah, while Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued on behalf of Gehlot.

The court on September 12 reserved its order after marathon arguments on the writ petition filed by the CM on August 19 against Gehlot’s decision to allow three private individuals to seek a probe against the CM over the allotment of 14 housing sites, including those to his wife, by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA).

"The facts narrated in the petition would undoubtedly require investigation in the teeth of the fact that the beneficiary of all these acts is not anybody outside but the family of the petitioner. The petition stands dismissed... interim order of any kind subsisting today shall stand dissolved," the court said.

BJP ask Siddaramaiah to quit

Welcoming the order, the opposition BJP said the chief minister had no right to continue and must step down. "The Congress party must tell us after the verdict of the Karnataka High Court is it tenable for CM Siddaramaiah to continue? Siddaramaiah must step down,” BJP's national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said.

He looted the land meant for people from the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities, Poonawalla said, alleging the MUDA scam ran into Rs 5,000 crore, he said.

“Family and friends of Siddaramaiah benefitted...Congress party does not care about the people from the SC/ST community...Will Rahul Gandhi take action on the bhrashtachar ki dukaan"," Poonawalla said.

What is the MUDA case?

MUDA is accused of allowing an exchange of land where valuable urban parcels were traded for less valuable rural plots. The CM's wife, Parvathi Siddaramaiah, is said to have made illegal gains when MUDA purchased her 3-acre site in Kesare village of Mysuru in 2021. The transaction reportedly involved swapping the land for more valuable plots in the affluent Vijayanagar neighbourhood of Mysuru.