Karnataka BJP MLAs Sleep Inside Assembly Amid Overnight Sit-In Protest Over MUDA Scam | Watch

Several Karnataka BJP MLAs including Leader of Opposition (LoP) R Ashoka and party’s state unit chief BY Vijayendra held a overnight stage-in protest and slept inside the Assembly and the legislative council on Wednesday over not allowing discussion regarding the alleged Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam.

The opposition dubbed state chief minister Siddaramaiah as “father of the Muda scam” and demanded his resignation.

In the videos and photos shared by the news agency ANI and Karnataka BJP, the protesting MLAs were seen sleeping inside the Karnataka Assembly. They also sang devotional songs during a night-long dharna against the Congress government’s alleged corruption at Vidhan Soudha in Bengaluru.

Vijayendra condemned the multi-crore scam involving CM Siddaramaiah and demanded his resignation. “We demand the resignation of the corrupt Chief Minister, condemn the Mysore Muda scam in which Siddaramaiah is involved, and demand the resignation of the chief minister. An hour-long sit-in satyagraha has been started in the Vidhan Soudha with BJP and JDS members of both houses against the zero-development Congress government, including the multi-crore corruption of the Valmiki Development Corporation,” he said in a post on X.

“After robbing 187 crores of Maharshi Valmiki Nigam, which was meant for the welfare of Scheduled Tribes, MLA B Nagendra, who has already been caught by the ED, is standing in the queue and knocking on the door of the jail,” he added.

On the overnight protest inside the Karnataka Vidhan Soudha, Karnataka BJP MLA Mahesh Tenginakai said, “These (state government) people are not even ready for discussion, so 100% they have committed a scam. If they are not ready for discussion and debate, our protest will continue… forget resignation, these people are not even ready for discussion. We have never seen such a bad government till date.”

The BJP had demanded a discussion on the scam in the Assembly on Wednesday. While the ruling Congress urged the Speaker not to allow discussion on the issue citing rules, the opposition BJP claimed that a needle of suspicion is pointing to the family of the “most important person” of the state, and demanded that it be allowed.

The opposition also alleged a political motive behind formation of the inquiry commission to probe the matter and said it was aimed at denying the House an opportunity to debate the issue.

Karnataka Assembly speaker UT Khader rejected the Adjournment motion to discuss MUDA scam saying that cases under judicial inquiry cannot be discussed. He further said that he would not object to the BJP JDS leaders right to protest but at the same time he would try to convince the leaders to drop the protest and ensure the session continues.

Basavaraj Horatti, Chairman of the Karnataka Legislative Council also said, “They (BJP) have sent an adjournment motion regarding MUDA. I tried to explain to them that this is not a regular matter. Regular matter means if the government has failed in its duty, riots, floods, all these problems, then only I can accept the motion and give permission to the opposition party. But this is not a regular matter. This happened 3-4 years ago. Now it has come in the media. According to me, this is not a matter worth discussing. Yesterday they gave a letter to reconsider. So I am reconsidering it. I am trying to see all the rules and regulations. Today I will call the Leader of Opposition and the Leader of the House again. I will discuss it with both sides and try to convince them.”

The MUDA scam links to fraudulent allotment of sites to land losers by Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), which involves plots given to Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathi. MUDA had allotted plots to Parvathi under a 50:50 ratio scheme in lieu of 3.16 acres of her land, where MUDA developed a residential layout. The controversial scheme envisages allotting 50 per cent of developed land to the land loser in lieu of undeveloped land acquired for forming layouts.