Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah is facing his biggest political challenge with the Opposition BJP and Janata Dal Secular pressing for his resignation over graft allegations in a land scam in which his wife is one of the beneficiaries.

Although the land allotment in Mysuru was made during the previous BJP government, the matter got propelled with governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot issuing a showcause notice to the chief minister in response to a complaint filed by anti-graft activist and lawyer T.J. Abraham.

The ruling Congress has thrown a shield of defence around Siddaramaiah who has decided not to reply to the showcause notice. The governor is yet to take a call on Abraham seeking sanction to prosecute the chief minister.

Deputy chief minister D.K. Shivakumar, often seen as a challenger to the chief minister’s post, said: “It’s not possible to even
touch Siddaramaiah.”

The allegation is centred around the Mysuru Development Authority (Muda) allotting 14 housing plots to Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathi in an upmarket area in exchange for 3.16 acres of her land in Kesare village that the agency acquired to develop
residential colonies.

Siddaramaiah had already defended his wife saying that her brother, Mallikarjunaswamy, had originally bought the land in 2004 and then gifted it to Parvathi in 2010.

In 2021, the land was acquired by Muda, which in turn allotted the 14 housing plots in Mysuru under the 50:50 scheme. Under the scheme, Muda is empowered to allot half the size of the property it acquires from landowners at an alternative location.

The Opposition, however, accused Muda of allotting the 14 housing plots in upmarket Vijayanagar while the acquired land was in Kesare village on the outskirts
of Mysuru.

The BJP-JDS combine has embarked on a march from Bengaluru to Mysuru to educate the people about the scam and demand the chief minister’s resignation.

Senior BJP leader and former chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa even predicted that Siddaramaiah would resign before the march reached Mysuru later this week. The march led by his son and state BJP president B.Y. Vijayendra and JDS leader Nikhil Kumaraswamy, the son of Union minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, reached Mandya district
on Tuesday.

But the chief minister is not alone in this battle since his Kuruba (shepherd) community and Ahinda (Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes, Dalits and Adivasis) have also hit the streets in Bengaluru and elsewhere warning of a massive agitation if he is forced to resign.

Abraham, who is waiting for the governor’s nod to prosecute the chief minister, accused Siddaramaiah of double standard as he had welcomed similar legal action against Yediyurappa.

“He (Siddaramaiah) was happy when I made allegations against Yediyurappa. But now he calls me a black-mailer,” Abraham told reporters in Mysuru on Monday.