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Defending the allotment of land to a firm in which his two sons are partners, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Monday denied committing acts of 'nepotism or favouritism' and ruled out stepping down from his post.
Under attack from the Opposition, Yeddyurappa said he was ready to order a judicial probe by a retired Supreme Court judge into denotification and allotment of lands and sites in the last ten years if the Opposition agreed.
Admitting that he allotted land to his sons and also a residential plot in Bangalore to his Parliamentarian son B Y Raghavendra, Yeddyurappa said they were done in accordance with rules and procedures. Speaking to reporters, he slammed the Opposition for its 'malicious propaganda' to damage the image of his family by 'levelling baseless and trivial charges' and sought to turn the tables on them by 'exposing' some cases involving the Opposition.
To a pointed query on whether he would step down following the footsteps of former Maharastra chief minister Ashok Chavan, who was eased out by the Congress, Yeddyurappa shot back, "There is no comparison of my actions to the Adarsh Housing Society scam".
Justifying the denotification of land favouring his family members and allotment of two acres to a firm of which his two sons are partners, he said, "These have been done under special provisions which has been in practice for several years and similar decisions were taken by earlier governments."
Seeking to expose what he called 'misdeeds' of some of his predecessors, including his earlier coalition government partner H D Kumaraswamy of Janata Dal Secular, he alleged, "Kumaraswamy allotted six acres of land to his brother H D Balakrishna near Whitefield when he was the chief minister."
"Under pressure from the Opposition Congress leader Siddaramaiah, I ordered for de-notification of six acres of land this March to Dr Mallikarjunaswamy at Kengeri on the city outskirts," he said.
"I will invite the Opposition for consultations in two or three days. If they do not agree, I will take my own decision. A special session will also be convened to discuss scams. Let the Opposition produce documents," he said.
Agitated over the Opposition's repeated demand for his resignation, he said, "I will complete the remaining two-and-a half years of my tenure as chief minister. I will ensure that opposition parties remain in the opposition ranks for another twenty years".