New Delhi, Jan 29: Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa today admitted that he had committed a "mistake" by alloting land to his sons but appeared defiant about the act being "immoral or illegal".
"If land is there you can offer it to anybody. My mistake is I allotted land to my son. If court takes a decision, let them take back the land," Yeddyurappa told a TV channel.
However, Yeddyurappa- who virtually forced the party high command to allow him to continue in office despite the scandal- appeared to differ with party president Nitin Gadkari who had said the chief minister’s act of making out of turn land allotment to his sons may be "immoral but not illegal".
"I will speak to Gadkari. He must be mistaken. Somebody must have misguided him", Yeddyurappa said.
Yeddyurappa also lashed out at Karnataka governor HR Bharadwaj for giving sanction to prosecute him.
"He has converted the Raj Bhavan into a political party. I want to ask the governor Sahib: What is your intention?," the chief minister said.
The chief minister felt that Bhardwaj may have been sent to Karnataka with a specific mission by the Congress high command.
"He may have been sent for this purpose only. Everyday we are observing, governor is acting like an opposition party leader in Karnataka."
Yeddyurappa said that the governor had neither sent notices to him nor invited him for discussions to clear the air on the land deals.
"I am ready to face the prosecution in court", he said.