Fighting Opposition charges that his former housing minister helped family and friends strike lucrative land deals, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa doled out some plots of his own to near and dear ones.

Towards the end of his first year in power, the first BJP chief minister of Karnataka went the way of his predecessors in allotting 77 stray sites under the Bangalore Development Authority -- mostly measuring 4,000 sq ft -- to party members at throwaway prices.

Against the prevailing market rate of Rs 2,500 per sq ft in the areas where the sites are allotted, they were given land at Rs 250 per sq ft. While the discretionary G Category sites falling under the purview of the Chief Minister are strictly meant for those in public service, most of the beneficiaries under Yeddyurappa have been BJP legislators, with the latest being his son B Y Raghavendra (who was recently elected as MP).

Over the years, the allotment of stray BDA housing sites at throwaway prices has been considered a given method for the Karnataka government of the day to appease friends and loyalists.

After an April allotment of 66 sites to mostly BJP legislators, the BDA on July 18 cleared 11 site allotments under the Chief Minister's discretionary quota. Apart from Raghvendra, the others to get the sites at Rs 10 lakh per property against the Rs 1 crore market value were six other new MPs, an MLA and two former MLAs. While a social activist also got land, the site allotted measured just 2,400 sq ft.

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