‘What should I do’: Siddaramaiah breaks silence as ED carries out raids in Karnataka in MUDA scam case 

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on October 18 insisted that the law would take its course as Enforcement Directorate conducted raids at the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) office in connection with an alleged scam. 

“What should I do if ED raids on MUDA. What happens according to the law will happen...” he told reporters. 

A team of 12 Enforcement Directorate officials raided the office of the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) on Friday in connection with the land allotment case, in which Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is also named. The officials conducted a meeting with senior MUDA officials, including Commissioner AN Raghunandan. 

The officials are likely to seize documents pertaining to the case following the meeting. The probe agency will question all MUDA officials to ascertain their involvement in the land allotment case. 

The development comes a couple of days after K Marigowda, believed to be a close aide of Siddaramaiah, resigned as MUDA chairperson citing health reasons. 

“There was no pressure on me to resign. My health is genuinely not in good condition, so I am stepping down voluntarily. I have known the Chief Minister for more than 40 years. He appointed me as district president and never asked me to do anything illegal, including anything related to MUDA. I have suffered two strokes and cannot continue,” he added. 

Opposition has demanded Siddaramaiah’s resignation after the Karnataka High Court dismissed his petition, challenging the legality of the Governor’s decision to prosecute him over alleged irregularities in the MUDA scheme. 

The case against Siddaramaiah pertains to allegations that compensatory sites were allotted to his wife, BM Parvathi, in an upmarket area in Mysuru that had higher property value compared to the location of her land that had been acquired by MUDA. 

MUDA had allotted plots to Parvathi under a 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of 3.16 acres of her land, where MUDA developed a residential layout.  

Earlier, MUDA announced its decision to take back the 14 plots of land allocated to CM’s wife Paravathi following a request made by her. 

Siddaramaiah claimed that the land was gifted to his wife by her brother Mallikarjuna in 1998. However, an activist has alleged that the land was actually acquired illegally by Mallikarjuna in 2004, using forged documents. He further said that Parvathi had sought compensation for the land in 2014, during Siddaramaiah’s term as CM.