Bengaluru, Sep 2 (PTI) BJP MP Lahar Singh Siroya on Monday alleged that 19 acres of government land have been given free of cost to an institute run by the Siddhartha Vihara Trust belonging to the Congress President M Mallikarjun Kharge’s family and demanded that it be probed by an independent agency.
The Rajya Sabha member claimed that new documents reveal that the land parcel was given to the International Institute of Pali, Sanskrit and Comparative Philosophy, Kalaburagi, run by the Trust.
He said its trustees include Kharge’s wife, son-in-law and two sons. The secretary of the Pali Institute is Radhakrishna, the son-in-law of Kharge and sitting MP.
Recently, it had come to light that the Trust was granted five acre civic amenities land in the aerospace park, near Bengaluru, Siroya said.
The BJP leader claimed in a statement that in March 2014, the then Siddaramaiah-led Congress government gave 16 acres of government land on lease for 30 years to the Pali Institute. In a couple of years, additional land of three acres was added to the 16-acre leased property.
Finally, in March 2017, all 19 acres were transferred free of cost to the Institute by the Congress government.
An important fact is Kharge’s son, Priyank Kharge, was a Cabinet Minister in the then Karnataka government like he is now when the land was granted, he said.
He demanded that this land transfer of 19 acres, like the KIADB (Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board) land grant of five acres, should be probed by an independent agency.
“I have been abused and personally targeted for pointing out the alleged misuse of power and nepotism of the Kharge family in Karnataka. But, if the Kharge family believes in the principles of Babasaheb Ambedkar and Lord Gautama Siddhartha, they should themselves seek a probe,” Siroya said.
“Another pertinent question to ask in this context is, did the Siddaramaiah government come under pressure from Kharge to grant parcels of land to their private trust or was the Congress government in Karnataka trying to please Shri Kharge?, he said. PTI AMP RS RS
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