BJP leaders slam Mallikarjun Kharge over KIADB land allotment allegations for family trust

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party leaders (BJP) have slammed Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge, following alleged land allotment in the aerospace park near Bengaluru to a trust run by Kharge’s family.

Speaking on the issue, BJP MLA Dr C N Ashwath Narayan said that there had been many questions and doubts regarding the land allocation of the Civic Amenity (CA) land to the Kharge family trust. He further questioned the specification of the guidelines and said that the guidelines hadn’t been followed.

“So what are the specification guidelines? The complaint is that the guidelines have not been followed. Favouritism has happened, particularly to help the Kharge family. So they are under scrutiny. They are under question”, he said.

“They need to come out there to spill out. They have to keep all the documents public. Whether allocation has happened transparently. Is it accountable? Is it fair and impartial. People are asking whether it is fair and impartial,” Ashwath Narayan further added.

#WATCH | On Mallikarjun Kharge family allegedly gets plot in Aerospace park near Bengaluru, BJP leader Dr CN Ashwath Narayan says, “It has now caught the attention of the public and the system. There have been many questions and doubts with regard to the allocation of the land of… pic.twitter.com/BNA1geqX0d

— ANI (@ANI) August 27, 2024

BJP leader Gaurav Bhatia also slammed Kharge, stating that he “should resign immediately because he is the president” and “he has moral responsibility and his family has been accused of this scam” at a press conference on Tuesday.

He also slammed Mallikarjun Kharge’s son Priyank Kharge and said that he “has no right to remain in the post of minister for even a second. “Prima facie, he has misused his post; he should resign”, Bhatia said. He also took a dig at Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, stating that he “should vacate the chair immediately” over the “MUDA scam, Valmiki Development Corporation scam and now this third scam”.

Responding to the land allotment allegations to a trust run by Kharge’s family, his son and the Karnataka IT/BT and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister, Priyank Kharge denied the allegations and said the site allotted was not “an industrial plot meant for industrial or commercial purposes”.

Notably, the site allocated to the trust belongs to the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB). In a post on X, Priyank Kharge added that the KIADB had not provided any subsidy or provided any relaxation to the trust run by the family to which the plot was awarded.

The allegations against Kharge and his family come amidst the ongoing controversy over a land allotment scam involving Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. On August 17, Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot also provided sanction to prosecute Siddaramaiah over the disputed allocation of land under a Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scheme to his wife. (ANI)