The Hindu : Karnataka News : Land scam: BJP challenges Govt. to order probe

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 23, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka

Land scam: BJP challenges Govt. to order probe

Special Correspondent

`Some Congress, JD(S) members involved' `The BJP is ready to expose the land grabbers and bring them to book within six months if JD(S) extends conditional support'

SHIMOGA: The Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, B.S. Yediyurappa, on Friday challenged the Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, to order a judicial inquiry by a sitting Supreme Court judge into land grabbing in and around Bangalore if he is interested in bringing the culprits to book.

Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Yediyurappa said the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda should also accept the challenge if he too is interested in getting the guilty punished.

Mr. Yediyurappa said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is ready to expose the land grabbers and bring them to book within six months if the Janata Dal (Secular) comes out of the coalition and extends "conditional'' support to the government formed by his party. "Either Mr. Deve Gowda should come out of the coalition and face elections or allow our party to expose the land grabbing scandal within a specified time by extending conditional support,'' he added.

He said if Mr. Deve Gowda fails to act on these suggestions, it would make clear that he is not interested in exposing the scandal but keen on exploiting the issue for personal gains. He took exception to the announcement by Mr. Deve Gowda that his party would waive farm loans if it succeeds in exposing the scandal involving 45,000 acres of land worth Rs.10,000 crores.

Mr. Yediyurappa wondered why Mr. Deve Gowda should hesitate in pressing for a high-level inquiry into the scandal if has so much information about it.

He said some members of the Congress and the Janata Dal (S) are involved in the scandal. Taking exception to the reported remark by Mr. Deve Gowda that he should have exposed the scandal on the floor of the House as the Leader of the Opposition instead of seeking an inquiry into it now, Mr. Yediyurappa said he had raised the issue many times and offered to reveal details pertaining to it in the presence of the Speaker of the Assembly.

Mr. Yediyurappa said: "It is true that I have been keeping a low profile for certain personal reasons. But Mr. Deve Gowda provoked me by making baseless remarks. Now I can't keep quiet.'' The BJP will launch a people's movement against the scandal soon, he added.

Referring to the unconditional support extended by his party to the first ever non-Congress Government in 1983, he said it is unfortunate that the Janata Dal (S) has joined hands with the Congress to form the coalition Government. He said the BJP is taking the byelection to the Lok Sabha from Shimoga constituency seriously.

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