Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah questions ED slapping money-laundering case against him in MUDA scam

Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah. File Photo

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday questioned the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) slapping a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case against him, maintaining that the MUDA issue does not attract its provisions.

"I don't know on what grounds it's a money laundering case. Probably you too feel the same. According to me, it does not attract the money laundering case because compensatory sites were given. So, how is it a money laundering case?" Siddaramaiah told reporters here.

On Monday, the ED registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), equivalent to an FIR by police, against the Chief Minister over the alleged irregularities in allotment of 14 sites to his wife Parvathi B M by the MUDA (Mysuru Urban Development Authority).

The ED has invoked relevant sections of the PMLA against the Chief Minister and others in the ECIR.

The Chief Minister also ruled out the possibility of his resignation over the MUDA case.

"I work with conscience. So there is no need for me to resign," he said.

Siddaramaiah's wife on Monday wrote to MUDA conveying her decision to relinquish the ownership and possession of 14 plots stating that no site, home, asset and wealth is bigger for her than her husband's respect, dignity, honour and peace of mind.

On BJP's contention that the offer to surrender the sites by his wife amounts to accepting the wrongdoing in the case, the Chief Minister said: "How is it a crime or even a confession when someone decides to discard something saying that they don't want the controversy? The opposition party leaders are ‘Vishwaguru' in lies." "Will the case be closed after I resign? They are unnecessarily demanding my resignation. Why should I resign when I have not committed any wrong?" Siddaramaiah said.

Earlier in the day, the state BJP chief B Y Vijayendra said Siddaramaiah seems to have forgotten what he had said in 2011, when allegations had surfaced against the then Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa. " I would like to remind him", he said as he played a video clip.

In the video, Siddaramaiah can be heard telling the media that, ".... he (Yediyurappa) has surrendered sites illegally given to his children....what does it mean? If no wrong was committed, why were the sites surrendered? as it was illegally done, sites were surrendered. He has accepted the wrong..." Responding to this, Siddaramaiah said his case was different from that of Yediyurappa.

"Yediyurappa's case is related to the denotification of land whereas in the MUDA case I am not involved. Are there my orders or even exchange of letters (with MUDA)? There is vast difference between that case (Yediyurappa's)," he said.

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