"CM Siddaramaiah misused his office, steps taken by Governor were right": Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], September 25 (ANI): Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Wednesday accused Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of misusing his office and said that steps taken by the Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot in the alleged MUDA 'scam' against Karnataka CM were "right."
"The verdict of the court shows how CM Siddaramaiah misused his office, whether he was Deputy CM, Chief Minister, or opposition leader. The steps taken by the Governor were right," Kumaraswamy told ANI.
"Yesterday, Karnataka CM questioned me that Kumaraswamy is on bail; why is he continuing? He put the question. I think Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi ji, they are also on bail. That reason only Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi ji not reacted about that," he added.
Earlier today, the Special Court in Bengaluru passed an order directing Karnataka Lokyukta to conduct an investigation against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on the allegation of illegalities in the allotment of 14 sites worth Rs 56 crore to his wife Parvathi by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA).
Karnataka Lokayukta's Mysuru district police will have to conduct the investigation and will submit its report in three months. The Special Court's order came after the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday vacated its interim stay order granted on August 19, directing the court to defer the decision on the complaints against Siddaramaiah.
The order came on the petition of social activist Snehamayi Krishna.
"FIR will have to be registered as per the order. Mysuru Lokayukta jurisdiction will register an FIR and do the investigation," Advocate Vasant Kumar, representing petitioner activist Snehamayi Krishna, told reporters.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Karnataka High Court dismissed Siddaramaiah's petition challenging Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot's approval for an investigation into alleged illegalities in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority's (MUDA) allotting sites to his wife.
In his judgement, the single judge bench of Justice Nagaprasanna said that the order of sanction for prosecution does not suffer from non-application of mind by the Governor.
It is alleged that MUDA illegally allotted 14 sites to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's wife in the prime location of Mysuru city. The High Court, in its interim order passed on August 19, had granted a temporary relief to Siddaramaiah by directing a special court in Bengaluru to defer further proceedings and not to take any precipitative action pursuant to the sanction granted by the Governor. (ANI)