Bengaluru: Regarding officials concerned of Enforcement Directorate (ED) registering Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) on charge of money laundering against him on Monday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday stated “It does not amount to money laundering since plots to his wife B.M. Parvathi has been allotted compensatory plots by Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) in Mysuru city.”
“Let them (ED) do whatever they wish as per law. In my view, I don’t know how (MUDA plot allotment case to his wife) amounts to money laundering,” said the Chief Minister and stated “I work as per my conscience.” He questioned “What is my role in the entire MUDA episode?” and said to fight the ED’s ECIR against him and his family members legally.
Reacting to the opposition charge of admission of guilt by the Chief Minister after his wife decided to surrender 14 plots to MUDA, Siddaramaiah said returning plots back to MUDA by his wife does not amount to admission of wrongdoing by him or his family members.
Moreover, his wife B.M. Parvathi after she was “pained” over the plot allotments grew into a big controversy and decided to surrender the plost.
He said his wife wanted to put an end to the ongoing controversy over plot allotments and took the decision to surrender the plots allotted to her by MUDA.
He explained 3.16 acres in survey number 464 in Kesare village of Mysuru city was gifted to his wife by her brother Mallikarjuna Swamy and MUDA encroached upon her land and distributed plots to the applicants.
After losing land, he said, his wife being the owner of the land sought compensation from MUDA for losing her property and MUDA obliged to her request. Moreover, my wife did not ask for plots to be allotted in a particular location and MUDA distributed her plots in 3rd and 4th stage of Vijayanagar in Mysuru city.
Siddaramaiah said the decision to surrender plots by his wife was her own decision and he came to know about it later on.
Reacting to the surrender of plots by the CM's wife, State president of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and MLA B.Y. Vijayendra termed the plot surrender as the first victory of the party against the ruling Congress government and stated to chalk out future course of action after consultation with party leaders to continue their fight against the State Government in particular Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
