Bangalore, June 23: Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar on Saturday resigned following a controversy over allotment of a housing site in the city in alleged violation of rules governing government land. Chief Minister DV Sadananda Gowda, however, rejected Kumar’s resignation, asserting that he was aware of the issue and would consult officials concerned to ascertain the facts. Claiming that Kumar was being wrongly targetted, Gowda said the purported controversy did not warrant his resignation and not even an investigation. Reacting to a report in a English tabloid (Bangalore Mirror) based on a piece of information obtained by an activist through the Right to Information (RTI) Act, Kumar said later that he had resigned because he did not want to cause embarrassment to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or its government and the Chief Minister. Asserting that he did no wrong in obtaining the site, measuring 4,000 square feet in the upscale Raj Mohan Vilas (RMV) area under the Chief Minister’s discretionary quota (‘G’ category), Kumar said he was ready for any probe by the authorities concerned, including the judiciary. In the light of similar or related allegations against a few of BJP’s former ministers and lawmakers being probed by investigation agencies at the state and central levels and in courts, Kumar said he had offered to return the site to the state-run Bangalore Development Agency (BDA). The agency allotted it in the city centre as an alternative to the one that was allotted to him earlier but freed from government control subsequently. “Moreover, when the alternative site was allotted, neither me nor my family members had any property in the city. I have also mentioned details in my affidavit filed with the state Lokayukta (ombudsman) on assets belonging to us,”" Kumar said. (IANS)