Alloted sites to relatives on compassionate grounds

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Facing fresh charges of nepotism, Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa on Monday admitted he had allotted residential sites in Mysore to six of his relatives, but indicated it was done on compassionate grounds.

His admission came after JD(S) alleged yesterday that the chief minister alloted sites of Mysore urban development authority to ten of his close relatives under his discretionary quota by “throwing all rules to winds.”

Reacting to the charge, Yeddyurappa said, he had two brothers and they had passed away, while a brother-in-law had died and added that their relatives had been allotted sites.

However, he pleaded ignorance about four other allotees and said he had asked the Mysore deputy commissioner to submit a report in this regard.

At the height of opposition campaign against him last year, Yeddyurappa’s family members, including son B.Y. Ragavendra, MP, had surrendered prime plots in Bengaluru after the allegation of nepotism came under national spotlight.

Referring JDS leader H.D. Kumaraswamy’s plan to hold an indefinite fast in front of the Vidhana Soudha, the state secretariat, over the BJP’s chargesheet against him, Yeddyurappa said it would not be allowed.

“However big a man may be in this nation, we will not allow it in and around Vidhana Soudha”, Yeddyurappa said adding Kumaraswamy can hold the fast in the Freedom Park.

He said people have freedom to hold protest within the legal frame-work, and he would not “block” it.

Kumaraswamy had on June 30 announced that he would go on a fast-unto-death from July 8 if the state Government failed to order an inquiry into the ruling BJP’s “chargesheet” alleging that his family had amassed assets worth1,500 crores.