3 acres ‘gifted’ to Siddaramaiah’s wife under scanner, his poll affidavits show mismatch (2024)

The BJP and JD(S) have questioned the land’s subsequent transfer in 2021 to the state under a controversial “50:50” alternate site scheme in exchange for 14 housing plots developed by the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA).

Siddaramaiah has dismissed the Opposition’s allegations, pointing out that the land exchange took place when the BJP was in power, and that his Congress government has put the scheme on hold. He also said he was ready to return the plots in Mysore if compensation of Rs 62 crore at market rate was paid for his wife’s land acquired by MUDA.

Siddaramaiah has dismissed the Opposition’s allegations, pointing out that the land exchange took place when the BJP was in power, and that his Congress government has put the scheme on hold. (Express Photo)

The Indian Express, meanwhile, compared the affidavits filed by Siddaramaiah ahead of the Assembly polls in 2013, 2018 and 2023 with publicly available land records and found a mismatch with regard to the 3.16-acre agriculture land under survey number 464 in Kesare village of Kasaba Hobli on the outskirts of Mysore. Consider this:

2013: The poll affidavit filed by Siddaramaiah, three years after the land was received as a gift by his wife, indicates no agricultural land ownership by her during the period. But land records of Kesare village show that a mutation record number 60 was created on October 20, 2010, for a gift deed for 3.16 acres from B M Mallikarjunaswamy to his sister B M Parvati, the wife of Siddaramaiah.

2018: Siddaramaiah’s affidavit mentions his wife’s ownership of the land. “Gift received from my brother B M Mallikarjunaswamy, Dt 20-10-2010,” says the column for agricultural land owned by the CM’s spouse. The value of the land is estimated at Rs 25 lakh in the affidavit.

2023: The affidavit shows allotment of 37,190.09 sq ft of land by MUDA in exchange for the Kesare village land in the column for non-agricultural land held by Siddaramaiah’s spouse in April 2023. “Located at Vijayanagar, Mysore. Site No 5, 25, 331, 332, 213, 214, 215, 216, 10855, 11189, 5085, 12065, 12068, 5108. 37,190.09 Sq ft. Allotted from MUDA Mysore against acquisition of agricultural land,” says the affidavit. The cost of the land at the time of purchase is indicated as Rs 15,130 and its value estimated at Rs 8,33,35,104 (Rs 8.33 crore) in April 2023.

In a final twist, the state’s Record for Rights, Tenancy and Crops still shows the 3.16 acres in the name of B M Parvati Siddaramaiah for the 2023-24 period. Asked why land records data still show the land in the name of Siddaramaiah’s wife, the CM’s press secretary K V Prabhakar said, “It has to be examined.”

Some of these inconsistencies are at the centre of a complaint filed by Bengaluru-based activist T J Abraham with the Chief Electoral Officer on Wednesday, alleging that Siddaramaiah had filed a “false affidavit” ahead of the 2013 state polls.

The Opposition parties have also questioned the Chief Minister’s claim of Rs 62 crore in compensation for the land when its value was declared as only Rs 25 lakh in the 2018 poll affidavit.

Apart from discrepancies between the poll affidavits and land records, there are allegations of wrongdoing in the manner in which the land was acquired by the Chief Minister’s brother-in-law in 2004 before it was gifted in 2010. In this regard, a police complaint filed by a Mysore-based activist S Krishna has been referred to the state urban development department which is conducting an inquiry into MUDA’s site allotment.

The complaint alleges the CM and other influential persons created false documents and defrauded MUDA by illegally acquiring plots worth crores. It also alleges that records in the 2004-2005 period for the 3.16 acres were fabricated to suggest it was originally bought by the CM’s wife’s brother from a Dalit farmer — though the land had already been acquired in 1992 by MUDA for sites. An aide of the Karnataka CM dismissed the complaint as “frivolous”.

The Opposition, however, has questioned the CM’s claims. “The election affidavit of the CM in 2013 does not mention the acquisition of the 3.16 acres. It is a violation of the election code of conduct and violation of Representation of People Act,” state BJP president B Y Vijayendra said on Wednesday. “This scam cannot be covered up like other previous scams,” said Union Minister and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy.

Following several other complaints related to the MUDA scheme, the state government has ordered an inquiry by an IAS officer into the functioning of the 50:50 alternate site scheme and put on hold all allotments under it.

On Thursday, responding to the allegations and the activist’s complaint to the poll officer, Siddaramaiah said, “If the election commission issues a notice (on the false affidavit complaint), I will reply as per the law. These allegations are being made for political reasons. They are jealous that Siddaramaiah, a backward class man, has become the CM for the second time.”

He said, “They (MUDA) have illegally taken over our land and given alternate sites as compensation. Since we do not want illegalities in MUDA, we have ordered an inquiry and stopped the scheme (50:50 scheme). The scheme has been misused by real estate middlemen at the cost of original land losers.”