Karnataka BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa has been named in an FIR for alleged corruption during his tenure as the chief minister in 2010, potentially setting up a showdown between the ruling Congress and its main challenger in next year’s assembly polls.

The FIR filed by the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) – which reports to chief minister Siddaramaiah – is the second against Yeddyurappa within a week.

Both relate to an estimated loss of Rs 3,845.5 crore to the exchequer after he allegedly denotified prime plots of land earmarked for setting up housing colonies in Bengaluru.

The FIRs come barely a few days after BJP president Amit Shah termed the Siddaramaiah government as the most corrupt dispensation in the history of independent India and said the party will contest the assembly polls with corruption as the main issue.

Officials said the FIRs were based on a complaint filed by one D Aiyappa, accusing Yeddyurappa of illegally denotifying land identified by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) for the Dr K Shivaram Karanth layout.

The BDA had proposed 18,975 housing sites on the plots which the complainant said was worth Rs 5,692.5 crore. The BDA would have earned a profit of Rs 3,845.5 crore from the project, the complaint said.

The complainant said the land was denotified based on the objections of one Asha Paradeshi on January 20, 2009, despite her not possessing any documents for three acres of land she said was hers.

The complaint came ahead of the state BJP’s proposed campaign calling for the resignation of state energy minister DK Shivakumar, whose residence was raised by the Income Tax department earlier this month.

Yeddyurappa is no stranger to controversy, with his tenure as the first BJP chief minister in a southern state being cut short just three years into his term in 2011 after he was jailed for less than a month on corruption charges.

In October last tear, a special CBI court cleared Yeddyurappa of all charges.