Yathindra says his mother will decide on reclaiming surrendered sites

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s son and MLC Yathindra said a decision on whether or not to reclaim the surrendered Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) sites through the court will be taken by his mother Parvathi after the ongoing investigation in the matter concludes.

Fielding reporters’ queries in Mysuru on Saturday, Mr. Yathindra said his mother was legally entitled to the sites as compensation for the land acquired by MUDA to develop a layout. Clarifying that the surrender of the sites by his mother did not amount to acceptance of guilt, Mr. Yathindra said his mother had surrendered the sites hurt over the attempts to stigmatise the reputation of his father by levelling false allegations against him. “Even though he had done no wrong, he was made to stand as an accused in the eyes of the public,” Mr. Yathindra lamented.

He said his mother was relieved over the High Court’s decision to quash the summons issued to her by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in the alleged MUDA scam.

Contending that there were no irregularities in the allotment of compensatory sites to his mother by MUDA, Mr. Yathindra said the Lokayukta report had made it clear that Mr. Siddaramaiah and his family had not brought any influence on the MUDA in the matter of allotment of sites.

Also, he said the ED should come into the picture only when money laundering was involved. MUDA had allotted 14 sites to his mother, which had been subsequently surrendered, as compensation for acquiring her land.

“Where is money laundering involved here?” he said. Yet, the ED took up the case due to political reasons at the instance of Centre’s provocation to harass Mr. Siddaramaiah and his wife, he said. He said his mother was disappointed with the issue of notice to her by the ED as she had done no wrong. Hence, an appeal was made before the High Court to question the summons, he said.