After site row, Suresh resigns

In a major embarrassment to the BJP government in Karnataka, Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Urban Development Minister Suresh Kumar on Saturday resigned from the Cabinet after he was accused of filing a false affidavit violating rules governing allotment of government plots to get a site from the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA).

Kumar, known for his clean image, tendered his resignation to Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda after RTI activist S Bhaskaran, in a report published in a local tabloid, made the charges.

Kumar, however, maintained that he had done no wrong. “I have not done anything wrong or illegal. I have resigned as I do not want to cause embarrassment to the government or party,’’ Kumar told reporters.

The CM has not accepted his resignation and asked the minister to reconsider his decision. “I am aware of the entire issue. The issue does not warrant his resignation and not even an investigation,’’ the CM said.

According to Kumar, he had filed the affidavit when a BDA site — 4,000 sft  site in RMV extension —  was allotted to him under the CM’s discretionary quota, known as ‘G’ category. The site was allotted to him when B S Yeddyurappa was the CM.

“When the BDA site was allotted to me neither me nor any of my family members had any property in the city. I have mentioned this in my report on assets filed with Karnataka Lokayukta,’’ he said. Members of the legislature declare their assets to the Lokayukta annually.

The allegation against Kumar is that while getting the BDA site, Kumar’s family owned sites but this was not mentioned in his affidavit. “I had filed the affidavit on June 22, 2009 stating that neither me nor my family has any property purchased from BDA or any housing development society. My mother and sister purchased sites from a housing development society in Nelamangala (on the outskirts of the city) on December 7, 2009. In fact, they sold those sites to build a house in Bangalore. Except that house and the site allotted to me, we do not have any other property,’’ he said. Kumar said before submitting the resignation, he had informed party leaders.