New Delhi. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday alleged that the entire top leadership of the Congress is involved in corruption related to land deals and after these matters are exposed, they should resign on moral grounds. This attack on Congress by BJP has been made at a time when Rahul M. Kharge, President of Siddharth Vihar Trust in Karnataka, has announced the allotment of five acres of land in Bengaluru to set up ‘Multi-Skill Development Centre, Training Institute and Research Centre’. withdrew its request on Sunday.
The move by Rahul Kharge, son of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, comes after Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvati returned 14 plots to the Mysuru Urban Development Authority. Lokayukta police had registered a case against Siddaramaiah, his wife and a relative in this matter. Addressing a press conference held at the BJP headquarters, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said that these decisions have been taken due to the adverse report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and legal proceedings and in a way it is an admission by its leaders that the land allotment Was wrong. He claimed that this was done to avoid ‘humiliation’ during legal proceedings.
Trivedi accused several Congress leaders, including Siddaramaiah, of alleged land scams and asked Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi as to how his ‘love shop’ has now transformed into an ‘illegal property dealer’s shop’? Referring to the offer made by the family members of Kharge and Siddaramaiah to return the land, Trivedi said, “This is, in a way, their acceptance. “The work of grabbing land by misusing power was taking place at the highest level in the Congress in Karnataka.”
He questioned Congress, “Just returning the land will not work. On moral grounds, those who returned the land, should they not resign?” Lokayukta police on September 27 arrested Siddaramaiah, his wife Parvathi BM, his close relative Mallikarjuna Swamy, Devaraju (from whom Mallikarjuna Swamy had purchased the land) in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) plot allotment scam case, following a special court order on September 25. ) and a case was registered against others.
Subsequently, the Enforcement Directorate also filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) against the Chief Minister on September 30, alleging irregularities in the allotment of 14 plots by MUDA to his wife Parvati BM. The MUDA had on October 1 decided to take back the 14 plots allotted to them after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvati offered to return the plots. Trivedi said that these leaders have been exposed by the decisions to return the land.
He alleged that the party once associated with ‘Bhoodan’ of Mahatma Gandhi and Vinoba Bhave is now running a ‘land grab movement’ with the ‘inspiration’ of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. He said, “Congress is a 138-year-old party which says that it follows the ideals of Gandhi. The party in which Vinoba Bhave ji had once launched the land donation movement, is now running a land grabbing movement.” The BJP MP mentioned that Sonia and Rahul are accused in the National Herald case. It is alleged that the Gandhi family, using the money of the Congress Party, took over the company Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which publishes the National Herald newspaper, and tried to acquire assets worth more than Rs 20 billion.
Trivedi said that investigation in this case was started on the instructions of the court even before BJP came to power in 2014. He said that such allegations regarding land have been made against former Chief Ministers Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel and Kamalnatha and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and others. He said, “This clearly shows that the entire top leadership of Congress is involved in corruption related to land grabbing.” He said that corruption comes naturally in Congress.
Trivedi claimed that if there were such serious allegations against BJP leaders, it would have created a storm. He said the ‘silence’ of the opposition ‘India’ alliance shows that their parties support each other in corruption. Trivedi also commented on suggestions by some Congress leaders that there is nothing left to investigate once the land is returned by those facing charges.
He said, “The people of the country understand such childish efforts.” Responding to questions about communal tension in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, he claimed that it is part of a wider conspiracy to target Indian institutions and society.