Citing a Karnataka High Court order from 2019 in a case involving Bharatiya Janata Party leader R Ashoka, the Congress on Wednesday stated that the charges against Siddaramaiah in connection with an alleged land scam can be dropped if the sites have been returned to the Mysore Urban Development Authority, The Indian Express reported.

The court in 2019 dismissed criminal proceedings against Ashoka after he returned plots linked to an alleged land scam to the Bengaluru Development Authority.

The case against Siddaramaiah pertains to the allotment of 14 high-value housing sites in Mysuru’s Vijaynagar area to Parvathi, the chief minister’s wife, in 2021 by the Mysore Urban Development Authority under a state government scheme. This was allegedly done in exchange for 3.16 acres of land that she owned in another part of the city. The land was allegedly illegally acquired from Dalit families.

On Wednesday, state Home Minister G Parameshwara, along with three other ministers, criticised the BJP for attacking Siddaramaiah and Parvathi for their decision to return 14 plots to the Mysore Urban Development Authority when Ashoka had also returned land following corruption claims.

Parvathi had offered to return the plots on Tuesday, a day after the Enforcement Directorate booked Siddaramaiah under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in the matter.

Subsequently, the Mysore Urban Development Authority said that it would take back the 14 plots.

The Enforcement Directorate booked Siddaramaiah based on a first information report registered by the Lokayukta police against him, Parvathi, her brother Mallikarjuna Swamy and a person named Devaraju.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, the ministers claimed that Ashoka, the leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly, “illegally” purchased two parcels of land in south Bengaluru’s Lottegollahalli in 2007 and 2009 through a sale deed, The Hindu reported.

The plots were acquired by the Bengaluru Development Authority in 1978, said Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, who was also at the press conference. “The owners of the land parcels before the BDA [Bengaluru Development Authority] acquired them sold them to Mr. Ashok,” he added.

“In my experience, I can say that this sale deed itself was illegal,” Gowda said. Ashok subsequently managed to have the land denotified during BJP leader BS Yediyurappa’s tenure as chief minister in 2009, the ministers added.

Following this, Right to Information activist GB Athri filed a complaint against Ashok and sought a criminal probe, Parameshwara said. However, the BJP leader returned the two parcels of land to the Bengaluru Development Authority through a gift deed in August 2011.

Parameshwara also noted that the court in its January 2019 judgement on a petition seeking a criminal probe against Ashoka used his return of the land as grounds to dismiss the criminal proceedings against him.

“Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka, who should be acting responsibly, claimed that returning the 14 sites by the Chief Minister’s wife was an admission of guilt,” Parameshwara said on Wednesday.

“Now, when Siddaramaiah’s wife has returned the land, they are making all sorts of accusations, but they remain silent about what happened in their own case,” he added. “Ashoka claimed ownership of land that didn’t belong to him, and only after the complaint did he return it.”

However, the BJP leader was now accusing the chief minister’s wife of “land-grabbing”, the minister said. “They [Bharatiya Janata Party] have a lizard in their own plate but point to a worm in ours.”

On September 25, a special court in Bengaluru had ordered a Lokayukta police investigation against Siddaramaiah after the Karnataka High Court upheld the sanction granted by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot to prosecute him.

On August 19, Siddaramaiah moved the High Court challenging Gehlot’s decision, contending that it was part of a concerted effort to destabilise the Congress government in Karnataka.