The minister of Karnataka Industries claims that no regulations were broken and that the Congress president’s family trust received the five acres in March of this year “at prescribed price.”
A NEW dispute over land allocation has emerged in Karnataka, as the BJP questions the March 2024 awarding of a Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) site to a trust headed by Rahul, the son of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s family.
Nearly a year after the Congress took office in the state, Karnataka Industries Minister M B Patil confirmed that the Siddhartha Vihara Trust had been granted the site. He added that no regulations had been broken and that the site had been provided “at prescribed price, with no discounts”.
The Siddhartha Vihara Trust, which received the five acres at the Hitech Defence Aerospace Park outside of Bengaluru, has Priyank as a trustee. It was established in July 1994, and among its other trustees are Gulbarga MP Radhakrishna, son-in-law of Rahul Kharge, and the chairman of the organization.
Lahar Singh Siroya, a BJP member of the Rajya Sabha, first brought up the accusations regarding the allocation in a post on Sunday, citing an online news article.
The 5-acre plot was a portion of the 45.94 acres that were set aside at the aerospace park for the purpose of allocating quotas for Scheduled Caste in order to establish civic amenities.
Priyank Kharge, the Minister for Panchayat Raj, IT/BT, and Rural Development in Karnataka, and Kharge’s other son, refuted the accusations in a post on X. According to him, the given site was not “an industrial plot meant for industrial or commercial purposes.” “It is meant to be educational.” The trust wants to establish a multiskill development center at the CA location. Is that incorrect?
Is this a case of conflict of interest, nepotism, or abuse of authority? How did M B Patil, the Minister of Industries, approve this allocation? When did the Kharge family start their own aerospace company in order to qualify for the KIADB land? Karnataka MP Siroya for the Rajya Sabha posted.
He said the problem had come to the attention of the governor and asked if there would be an investigation into it.
Patil made the following statement on Monday: “In compliance with KIADB guidelines, the Siddhartha Vihara Trust, headed by Rahul Kharge, the son of AICC President Mallikarjuna Kharge, was given a CA (civic amenities) plot at Aerospace Park at a specified cost. When allocating (making) at the specified price, no regulations were broken and no discounts were offered.
According to the Industries Minister, Rahul Kharge, an IIT graduate, intended to build a research and development (R&D) center on the designated land. “R&D centers, centers of excellence, technical institutes, skill development centers, government offices, banks, hospitals, hotels, gas stations, canteens, and residential facilities may be established on CA plots in accordance with KIADB norms.”
According to him, the allocations are based on the Single Window Committee’s recommendations at the state level.
The civic amenity plots granted to SC/ST organizations were not subsidized, according to Priyank, who also noted that “Rahul, who is the Chairman of the (Siddhartha) trust, has extensive worked at the prestigious Indian Institute of Science for many years.”
He charged Siroya with fabricating the claims in order to maintain her political relevance.
In a statement, Ramesh Babu, the leader of the Congress’ media and communication wing in Bengaluru, referred to Siroya as a “migrant” to state politics because he was originally from Rajasthan and asked him to disclose information about his personal assets. Additionally, he said that Siroya and the BJP “have once again expressed their sentiment that they are against Dalit reservation” in light of the charges.
Chalawadi Narayanaswamy, the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, called for Priyank’s resignation as a minister. Narayanaswamy asserted that the Siddhartha Vihara Trust was a religious organization that was not intended to establish businesses and had been established to build a Buddha Vihara.
“Priyank Kharge ought not to abuse his position as a minister. Mallikarjun Kharge is an MP for the Rajya Sabha, and Radhakrishna is an MP. This is the epitome of power abuse and nepotism. He insisted that Priyank be removed from the Cabinet right away.
The claims made against Kharge and his family coincide with the ongoing controversy surrounding Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s involvement in a land allotment scam. The CM’s prosecution regarding his wife’s disputed land allocation under a Mysore Urban Development Authority scheme has been approved by Governor Tarachand Gehlot.
