An angry External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Thursday slammed Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa for his "wild and baseless" allegations on denotification of land during his regime in the state, and said they were aimed at character assassination.
Krishna, former Karnataka chief minister, also accused Yeddyurappa of "suppressing the truth and suggesting falsehood" with the purpose of tarnishing his image.
In a letter to Yeddyurappa, he said over the past few days newspapers and TV channels had been extensively reporting his allegations against him regarding de-notification of land during his tenure as chief minister.
"These wild and baseless allegations are nothing but assassination of my character. Not only this, you have been speaking in public, repeating these allegations", according to the letter dated on Thursday, which was made available at a press conference addressed by senior Congress leaders B K Chandrashekhar and Rani Satish.
"All these allegations were raised in the subsequent legislative sessions during and after my tenure as chief minister and were replied effectively. In spite of this, you have sought to sensationalise all this," he told Yeddyurappa.
He said, "I am sure you will agree with me when I say that you have done what best you can do i.e, suppressing the truth and suggesting falsehood. Your sole purpose in doing this is obviously to tarnish my image".
Krishna dwelt at length on lands notified and denotified during his tenure as chief minister for varied purposes such as religious, nurseries, educational institutions, industries and poultries.
During his tenure, Bangalore Development Authority had acquired without any litigation 5531 acres of land as against a meagre 500 acres from 1990 to 1999.
Land owners were involved right from the very beginning in the land acquisition process and objections were heard at the village level itself in public and the compensation cheque payment was made at the village itself, he said.
"While the compensation compared well with the market rate, incentive sites were also given (60X40 site in the same layout for every acre of land acquired). When the entire acquisition process has been so successful and is transparent and open, only vague, baseless and generalised allegations can be made."
Stating that government has the power to denotify lands under acquisition, he said large extents had been denotified because of parallel acquisition by other government departments such as Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee, Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board and Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board.
"During the regime of my government, a decision was taken to acquire land only to the extent required for Right of Way for the outer ring road and to denotify all lands on either side of the outer ring road that had been notified for acquisition", Krishna added.