Siddaramaiah's son crops up in site allotment scam

Bengaluru: An acrimonious debate on alternative sites’ allotment scam in BDA, during which even Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's son’s name cropped up, ended with BJP legislators staging a sit-in in the well of the Assembly on the opening day of the monsoon session on Monday.

Soon after question hour, leader of Opposition, Jagadish Shettar, took the government to task for its inability to punish those involved in the scam. While mentioning about Mr Hanumanthe Gowda, who reportedly secured 45 alternative sites, Mr Shettar dragged the name of Mr Siddaramaiah's son Dr Yathindra, whose business partner Dr Rajesh was allotted two acres near Hebbal. He also wondered how BDA could make bulk allotment to IAS officers' association in Nadaprabhu Kempe Gowda layout to an extent of 25-30 acres.  

However, acting Speaker Mr Shivashankar Reddy said Dr Yathindra’s name should be deleted from the records. The Opposition legislators were not satisfied with the reply of either BDA minister Mr K J George, nor with Mr Siddaramaiah’s reply, and trooped into the well of the House.

Recalling an earlier debate in the House on the same issue in 2013, Mr Shettar said the Chief Minister had constituted a committee under retired IAS officer Dr Shashidhar to probe the issue. In September 2015, Dr Shashidhar submitted a report to the government, but no action was taken. On April 15, 2016, the then additional chief secretary, urban development department, Mr Vijay Bhaskar wrote to the BDA to take action as per Dr Shashidhar report, only to be transferred the next day, Mr Shettar alleged.