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The Congress put its weight behind Siddaramaiah and called the Governor's nod to sanction his prosecution in the alleged MUDA (Mysuru Urban Development Authority) land scam a conspiracy against a "backward-class Chief Minister". The BJP shot back, saying the Governor was well within his constitutional powers to allow legal action to be taken against Siddaramaiah in the 'scam' worth Rs 4,000 crore.
The Congress leadership has also backed Siddaramaiah, saying the party would fight the issue together. Congress MP KC Venugopal has also asked the party's Karnataka unit to initiate a state-wide protest against the prosecution.
Addressing a press conference, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said the sanction for prosecution was against the law and the party would fight it legally.
"We stand with CM Siddaramaiah. The party, the high command and the entire state and the Cabinet stand with him. We will fight it legally, and we will fight it politically as well," Shivakumar said.
"We have made all our preparations to fight it legally, this is nothing but a clear conspiracy against backward-class CM Siddaramaiah who is running the government for the second time," he further said.
State minister Priyank Kharge said Raj Bhavan was being misused by the BJP as a tool to undermine a democratically elected government.
"The constitutional head of the state is sparking a constitutional crisis to appease his political masters. The Central government may throw its full weight behind this, but we stand firm with the Constitution on our side," Kharge tweeted.
Congress MLC BK Hariprasad alleged that the development was the result of a "political grudge" against Siddaramaiah following the BJP's loss in Assembly polls and reduced number of seats in the Lok Sabha elections.
"In the last Lok Sabha polls, the people have answered the hatred of the BJP and the Centre for destabilising the governments elected by the people. However, there are no signs of the BJP and the Modi government learning from it," he said.
Hitting back, Karnataka BJP chief BY Vijayendra said, "By keeping enough records and evidence against the corrupt scandals of the Congress government and against the bias and corruption of the Chief Minister's relatives, Siddaramaiah has demonstrated that there is no one to shake him."
The BJP has claimed that the case was a multi-crore scam running into Rs 4,000 crore to Rs 5,000 crore.
BJP leader and former Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar also waded in, saying Congress has transformed Karnataka into an ATM for its party and dynastic families.
"When Congress, on the back of its fake guarantees, came to power in Karnataka in 2023, it was predicted then that Congress would become the loot party of Karnataka and transform it into an ATM of its party, dynasty, families and themselves (Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar). The reality today is proving those assumptions correct," he said.
The controversy centres on a 3.16-acre parcel of land in Kesaru village owned by Siddaramaiah's wife, Parvathi. This land was acquired by MUDA for development of a layout and Parvathi was allocated 14 premium sites in Vijayanagar in 2022 as compensation under a 50:50 scheme.
However, activists alleged that the plot allotted to Parvathi had a higher property value as compared to the location of her land that was acquired by MUDA.
In July, the Congress government constituted a single-member inquiry commission under former High Court Judge Justice P N Desai to probe the case.
