Yeddyurappa land scam

The BJP is sounding a war-cry over the 2G spectrum scandal and the Adarsh Society scam, even as its own barn is afire in Karnataka. In just over a week, revelations of land scams involving hundreds of crores of rupees in Bangalore and elsewhere in Karnataka have raised a stink over the first BJP government in the South.

If the party bosses act, land may finally turn out to be the millstone around B S Yeddyurappa and his 29-month-old government riven with controversies from almost the first week of its existence.

Allegations point to the chief minister's direct hand in doling out land via denotification to his family and lieutenants. His sons B Y Raghavendra and B Y Vijayendra; home minister R Ashoka and state BJP chief K S Eswarappa are among beneficiaries of this largesse. As more such skeletons continue to tumble out, documents show that denotification was done ignoring advice of officials.

The land transfers allegedly favouring partymen and family tracts fall into three categories:

*Prime land allocated for public projects and layouts
*Industrial land in Bangalore and a few other pockets in the state
*Sites which form part of the chief minister's discretionary quota.

Preceding this storm was another scam involving IT minister Katta Subramanya Naidu, a trusted aide of
the CM. Naidu is facing allegations of illegal compensation for industrial land worth over Rs 100 crore. His son, Katta Jagadish, was arrested and is out on bail after allegedly trying to bribe a witness in the racket.

These deals have deeply embarrassed partymen at the national level who are fighting the UPA over the 2G spectrum controversy. Yeddyurappa's brazen defence of these highly suspect deals on Monday has made matters worse. He claimed he was following what other regimes had done.

To put down the opposition parties he has alleged the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Siddaramaiah, had asked for denotification of land in favour of a relative. He got unabashed when he said, "What's wrong if my sons are given land? Should they not set up any industry?"