Bengaluru, Aug 20 (Deccan Chroncle): Ridiculing state BJP chief B.S. Yeddyurappa’s threat to send him to jail should his party come to power in Karnataka in the 2018 poll, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday advised him to first save himself from going to prison.

Speaking to reporters here, he said Yeddyurappa , who was pulled up by his national party president, Amit Shah for various shortcomings, was now making baseless allegations and threats against Congress leaders. “Let him first save himself from landing in jail once again before threatening to send Congress netas to prison. Frustration is causing BJP leaders to rake up so-called corruption issues , forgetting that many of their own leaders have already spent time in jail. It is unbecoming of them to make charges without evidence,” he added.

Coming down hard on the BJP rally in Bengaluru demanding the resignations of Energy Minister, D K Shivakumar and Small Scale Industries Minister, Ramesh Jarkiholi, who have been raided by the Income Tax department, he wanted to know if the charges against them had been proved. "BJP leaders lack common sense. They have come out on the streets for their own interests. Let them try any tactic but they will not come to power in the state. It is the Congress which will return for another five years," he asserted.

Dismissing claims that his government was carrying out a political vendetta against Yeddyurappa, the Chief Minister said the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had carried out an investigation of its own volition into the denotification done by his government in the Shivaramakaranth Layout and asked him to appear before it.

“I have no role to play in the ACB filing a chargesheet against the BJP leader," he stressed.

Siddaramaiah defended the quality of food served at the Indira Canteens, saying he himself had tasted it on the day of their inauguration and found it to be good. “Except for minor hiccups the canteens are functioning without a hitch. The opposition parties are making baseless allegations because they are unhappy with the success of the scheme to provide quality food at concessional rates to the poor,” he claimed.

On Governor Vajubhai Vala's letter to the government against denotification of over 1,500 water bodies across the state, he once again denied there was any such proposal before it and promised to reply to Vala giving all the information he wanted within a week.

No conspiracy, says Ayyappa

Dr D Ayyappa, former vice chancellor of a private university, on Saturday ruled out any conspiracy behind his move to lodge a complaint with ACB against state BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa on denotification of land in Dr Shivaram Karanth layout.

He told the media here that he submitted the complaint in his capacity as president of ‘Janasamanyara Vedike’, through Anubhava Mantapa. Based on the findings of a preliminary inquiry, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered. Contrary to charges by Yeddyurappa, the conspiracy theory was far from truth, he added.

Dr Aiyappa said the state witnessed several scams about denotification of land much to the dismay of citizens besides depriving them an opportunity to acquire sites. He challenged Yeddyurappa to come clean on the issue of denotification in case he wished to return to hold the reins as Chief Minister, he added.

He challenged Yeddyurappa to appear before officers of ACB to prove that he was clean.