Sanction for CM's Prosecution: Governor meets activist as Congress watches his next move

Governor Thawarchand Gehlot on Tuesday met TJ Abraham, the anti-corruption activist who has sought prosecution of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in site allotment case, sparking speculations of the Raj Bhavan making final moves before granting the sanction.

The CM is facing charges of helping his wife Parvathi get 14 pricey residential plots in Mysuru, allotted by the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) in return for surrendering 3.16 acre of land on the city outskirts years ago.

Gehlot is seized of the resolution, passed by the council of ministers, last week, urging him to withdraw the show-cause notice issued to Siddaramaiah and reject Abraham's letter seeking permission for prosecution.


The Governor's office is in receipt of an elaborate report from the Chief Secretary on the MUDA site allotment scam. Gehlot issued a notice to Siddaramaiah recently asking him to explain why he should not accept Abraham's request, triggering angry reactions from the Congress party as well as the CM, who accused him of acting at the behest of the BJP.

The activist, emerging from the Raj Bhavan, said he had an excellent meeting with the Governor who had sought some clarity on the subject. He said he had provided all the clarifications sought. "I believe he will proceed...He is doing the work of a judge now," Abraham said, while expressing hope that the Governor’s decision should be out very soon.

The Congress camp is keenly watching the next moves of the Governor while preparing itself to mount a legal challenge if he were to permit prosecution.

With the Congress ministers busy attending the party’s campaign on the Bengaluru-Mysuru Road to counter the BJP-JDS padayatra, their governance-related work has taken a backseat. The ministers and other leaders have been making speeches attacking the BJP-JDS, and Siddaramaiah has been sharing these clippings on social media.

The BJP's padayatra demanding Siddaramaiah's resignation entered the fourth day on Tuesday, while the political campaigns have descended to mostly being personal attacks between Deputy CM DK Shivakumar and Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy as well as BJP state president BY Vijayendra.

On Tuesday, speaking at Mandya, Shivakumar, who is helming the Congress campaign, accused the NDA partners of conspiring to pull down the government, jealous of its popularity it gained after implementing the five guarantee programmes.

The AICC, which has thrown its weight behind Siddaramaiah, is said to have asked the state government to speed up investigations into the scandals the Congress had raised against the BJP while in the Opposition.