K'taka Governor seeks clarification from Chief Secy on Kharge family land issue

Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot has sought clarification from Karnataka Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh on the complaint of alleged illegal land allotment against Congress chief Mallikarjuna Kharge's family members by the Siddaramaiah government.

The complaint was filed by Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Legislative Council, Chalavadi Narayanaswamy.

Criticizing the Governor for seeking a report, Minister for RDPR, IT and BT Priyank Kharge said on Monday, "The Governor has two constitutions. One is for the BJP and JD(S) and another is for the Congress. Why is no one raising their voice in the case except for Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council? BJP State President B.Y. Vijayendra, LoP in the Assembly R. Ashoka are tight-lipped about it. It is a BJP and RSS organisation's conspiracy to make Dalits fight with each other and to create communalism. They are quiet because everything has been done as per the law. Whenever a complaint is made against Congress leaders, they are dealt with at lightning speed."

Karnataka BJP had attacked Mallikarjun Kharge and his son Priyank Kharge, over the alleged illegal allotment of five acres of land by the Siddaramaiah government at the Aerospace Park in Bengaluru saying that it was an injustice to Dalits by the Kharge family.

Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Legislative Council, Chalavadi Narayanaswamy had said, "Kharge family is playing politics over the land which is meant for Dalits and depriving deserving Dalits of their rightful share." He also released a series of documents in this regard.

"The Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) collected lakhs of rupees from 72 Dalit organisations but only allocated land to the Kharge family, disregarding other families," he slammed. He also criticised the government for hastily approving land for the Kharge family within just 20 days, flouting all rules.

"This is one of the biggest blunders in KIADB's history," he emphasised.

"This is another scam, akin to the loot in the MUDA scam by the Congress government. All of this happened within a month, just before the parliamentary elections. He questioned the purpose behind such hasty allocations. He asked why it takes 2-3 years to allocate sites to other applicants when this was done within a month," he questioned.

Narayanaswamy further alleged that rules were changed, and commercial plots were hastily allocated without a public auction, less than a year after the original decision. "If it was for commercial purposes, the base price should have been Rs 2.5 crore per acre, and at double the rate, it should have been auctioned from the base rate of Rs 5 crore. It could have fetched Rs 10 crore to Rs 15 crore in an auction. However, the land was given at the CA rate, considering it as a civic amenity site," he said.

(With inputs from IANS )