Bengaluru, 17 June

Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Wednesday slammed Chief Minister DK Shivakumar after posters appeared on the Mysuru-Bengaluru highway accusing Kumaraswamy's family and BJP leaders BY Vijayendra, R Ashoka, and Chalavadi Narayanaswamy of being involved in the land mafia.

Responding to the posters allegedly put up by Congress workers, the JD(S) leader said, “I thought that at least after becoming the CM, he would leave making blue films and posters. That habit hasn't gone."

Anitha Kumaraswamy, the Union Minister's wife, also reacted to the allegations. "They have put up posters saying 100 acres of land belong to Nikhil and me. I earned 46 acres of land forty years ago. Despite that, where do I have land in my name? Is it right to put up somebody's poster and ask for land?"

HD Kumaraswamy alleged that Shivakumar himself was involved in irregularities.

"The same person who got land in the name of dead people in Garaganahalli is trying to portray something. Will people believe it?... Doing all this without any standard shows which way the State will go. It's a creepy mindset."

"Doesn't he need to show some respect to the CM chair? Tell officers to take action (against my family) if any wrong is done. Instead of that, being CM and making allegations through posters, what does it show?" he added.

HD Kumaraswamy also alleged that Shivakumar was misusing his name to “loot money and grab land”, likely a reference to the Greater Bengaluru Integrated Township.