The Karnataka Assembly was rocked on Tuesday by allegations that relatives and friends of S N Krishnaiah Setty, when he was Housing Minister in the BJP government, bought land dirt cheap from farmers in an area 20 km from the new Bangalore international airport and made huge profits when the state Housing Board under Setty acquired the same land at inflated rates. Members alleged that farmers and the state exchequer were “cheated” to the tune of Rs 200 crore.

Setty resigned last month at the instance of Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa. Under Opposition fire today, Yeddyurappa admitted to the scandal but did not accede to demands for a CBI inquiry. He instead indicated an inquiry by a bureaucrat into all land acquisition activity by the Karnataka Housing Board over the last five years and punitive action against anybody found guilty.

Yeddyurappa claimed he put a halt to acquisition of 959 acre of land, 20 km from the new international airport, in March this year after he became aware of the scandal. He said only 31 acre was acquired for Rs 15.39 crore.

Opposition JD (S) leader H D Revanna alleged that Setty’s relatives and friends bought land at low prices from farmers in the Sidlaghatta taluk in Chikaballapur district and sold it at inflated prices to the Housing Board in collusion with government officials.

The JD(S) produced documents in the House to show that the former minister had “fixed” land acquisition by the Housing Board for personal profit. JD (S) leaders also accused the BJP of using funds from the deal for the Lok Sabha elections.

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