Bengaluru (Karnataka): Karnataka Home Minister Dr. G. Parameshwar on Monday said that no official permission has been given to the Bengaluru-Mysuru Padayatra being conducted by opposition parties BJP and JDS in Karnataka.
"But if they want to do padayatra without disturbing anyone, then (they can) do it," added Parameshwar. The BJP and JDS leaders have planned to hold a one-week 'Padayatra' from Bengaluru to Mysuru from August 3 against the "scandals of the Congress government".
Opposition parties have decided to hold a Padayatra demanding that Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah should resign due to the illegality in the allotment of Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) land and a CBI investigation into the illegality in the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation Limited.
Speaking near his residence in Sadashivnagar, here Parameshwar said "BJP had not given permission for our Padayatra before. Yet we did, and so may they. But, the government has not given permission for the BJP-JDS Padayatra. Officially, our police department does not allow it. It does not stop Padayatra. If permission is given, there will be legal problems. But let the Padayatra be conducted without disturbing the people. We will make any arrangements for the Padayatra."
CM Siddaramaiah's statement: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, "BJP is doing blackmail strategy on MUDA scam issue. They are creating a non-existent scandal."
Speaking to reporters at the government guest house in Mysuru on Monday, the Chief Minister said, "BJP does not have any ideologies. They were never on the side of justice. We have already given the MUDA scam for judicial investigation. What more is needed than this."
"Does it make sense if the Union Minister (H D Kumaraswamy) looks at the judicial inquiry with suspicion? How many corruptions have taken place during the BJP's rule? But they had given any judicial investigation and during our last tenure we had given 7-8 cases to CBI," added Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
"I have no qualms about the MUDA scandal. I did nothing wrong. In 40 years of politics, many accusations have come against me. I will deal with it politically. If the BJP wants to do Padayatra, let it (do). We will also do Padayatra to face it politically," he said.
''Do you know how many sites have gone to former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda? H D Kumaraswamy got a site in MUDA 40 years ago without giving a list of how many sites were taken by Deve Gowda's family when Puttaiah was CITB (City Improvement Trust Board) president. (They) got its possession deed also. Now they are walking around claiming that they have not got the site,'' he criticised.
''I am not going to say that corruption has gone completely during my tenure. But it can be said that it is less. The country has seen how much corruption there was in BJP earlier. Now BJP is trying to portray Karnataka as a corrupt state. And they are also proposing this issue in the Parliament,'' Siddaramaiah said.
''We are ready to build Mekedatu Dam (Kaveri River). Tamil Nadu people are protesting for political reasons. We are ready to build the dam if the Centre intervenes," he added.
