MUDA imbroglio: Descendants of original landowner complain of illegality

BJP leaders with one of the grandsons of the original owners of the land at Kesare in Mysuru that had been transferred to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife.
| Photo Credit: M.A. Sriram

In a fresh development in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) imbroglio, grandchildren of the original owner of the land at Kesare here that had been transferred to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathi surfaced in the city on Saturday, accompanied by BJP leaders, and submitted a complaint to the Mysuru district administration officials that their land had been illegally sold.

Tracing the history of the 3 acres and 16 guntas of land that was purchased by Mr. Siddaramaiah’s brother-in-law Mallikarjuna in 2004 before it was transferred to Ms. Parvathi as a gift in 2010, former Minister and BJP leader N. Mahesh, who was among the BJP leaders who accompanied the original owner’s grandson Manjunath to the office of the Deputy Commissioner, said Ninga, son of Jawara, had bought the piece of land through government auction in 1935.

Three children

The original owner, Ninga, had three children — Mallaiah, Myralaiah, and Devaraju. While Mallaiah and Mylaraiah are no more, Devaraju, who is the last son of Ninga, allegedly sold the piece of land to Mr. Siddaramaiah’s brother-in-law “by keeping both his elder brothers out of the picture”, alleged Mr. Mahesh while briefing Additional Deputy Commissioner P. Shivaraju.

Meanwhile, Mr. Jawara, another grandson of Mr. Ninga, told reporters that they learnt about the land owned by their grandfather only through the media.

Alleging that their uncle Devaraju had sold the land without their knowledge, Mr. Jawara said they too had a right over the land.

Mr. Mahesh said Devaraju should have obtained the approval of his two elder brothers with their signatures before selling the land to Mr. Mallikarjuna. “This is a Dalit issue,” said Mr. Mahesh, who was also accompanied by BJP MLA T.S. Srivatsa and former MLA L. Nagendra.

Meanwhile, RTI activist Snehamayi Krishna said he had sent a complaint to the National Commissioner for Scheduled Castes through registered post against the alleged atrocity on Dalits in the matter.

Protest by Ahinda groups

In another development, Ahinda organisations gathered outside MUDA office on Saturday and held a demonstration against the alleged efforts by the BJP to tarnish the image of the Chief Minister by levelling false allegations against him over the issue.