Yeddyurappa asks Sonia to prove her charges against him

BANGALORE - Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa Tuesday told Congress president Sonia Gandhi that her charges against him over land deals were baseless, and demanded that she prove these.

“The charges against me are baseless and made with the intention of maligning my government,” he said in a letter to Gandhi referring to the statements she made at the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting in New Delhi Monday.

“What baffles me is that these charges have been levelled by the persons occupying significant public office as important as the chief of UPA (United Progressive Alliance), which runs the present central government. I would like to know whether there is any proof or evidence to prove these charges and if there is any, I request you to send the same to enable me to place the record straight,” Yeddyurappa said in his letter top Gandhi released to the media here late Tuesday.

Gandhi had referred to allegations against Yeddyurappa over land deals while attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for stalling the entire winter session of parliament over its demand for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the 2G spectrum allocation scandal.

Yeddyurappa drew Gandhi’s attention to the parliament impasse and said, “Whatever happened in parliament does not augur well for the success of the parliamentary democracy and due to these developments, the whole country has been put to shame”.

“All that is said of me and my government are only allegations and there is no prima-facie case made out, unlike in the 2G spectrum and other scams faced by the UPA,” he asserted.

He referred to the Commonwealth Games and Mumbai Adarsh society scandal and said, “Under these circumstances, is it fair on your part, to point towards others about corruption?”