After MUDA row, BJP questions land allocation to Kharge family-run trust

Amid a row over MUDA site allocation case in Karnataka, the BJP on Tuesday raised the issue of allocation of a land to a trust run by AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge’s family in Bengaluru, alleging that the Congress leaders’ families are engaged in “land grab”.

Addressing a press conference here, senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad alleged that the Congress government in Karnataka has allocated 5 acres of land to Siddhartha Vihar Trust, run by Kharge’s family, under “suspicious circumstances” and demanded a “transparent and honest” reply from the Congress president to the questions being raised on the issue.

“It’s surprising that the Siddaramaiah government allocated the 5-acre land to the trust in a high-tech defence area in Bangalore for setting up an R&D facility,” he said.

“And the interesting thing about it is that this 5-acre land was given (to the Kharge family-run trust) within a few days of framing of the rules for (setting up of) R&D facilities in the area,” the former Union minister added.

Prasad said that this matter has reached Lokayukta in Karnataka and it is also pending with the court.

“Court will do its work. But when there are so many suspicious circumstances surrounding this entire fast-track allotment, Kharge ji will have to reply. He is Congress president and also leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha,” he said.

The BJP expects a transparent and honest reply from the Congress president, he added.

Prasad said that the BJP does not have any problem if a land is allocated to a “genuine trust for genuine purpose in an authentic manner”.

“But the way the political leaders’ families are engaging in land grab movement in the garb of trust, it is wrong. We vehemently condemn it. It’s a serious issue,” he said.

“We hope that action will be taken on this,” he added.

The BJP leader alleged that such land deals become “rampant” in the state wherever the Congress comes to power .

“Today a serious question is being raised as to why the Congress government and its leaders have great fascination for land deals,” he said, adding, “Have some of their leaders become property dealers?” On the MUDA site allocation issue, the BJP leader said the case is being investigated “honestly”.

Karnataka Lokayukta police has registered a case against Siddaramaiah on the directions of a special court in connection with the alleged irregularities in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allocation.

The Enforcement Directorate has also booked the chief minister, his wife Parvathi and some others in a money laundering case linked to the land allotment case, taking cognisance of the Lokayukta FIR.