Hyderabad: The Congress government in Telangana has approved the allotment of government land for construction of party offices in districts where it currently lacks a presence.
The decision was taken by the Telangana cabinet after consultation with all ministers at a meeting Monday at the state secretariat, sources in the government said.
The approval is likely to raise eyebrows as it revises a politically sensitive precedent set by the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) regime and draws comparisons with a parallel controversy in Congress-ruled Karnataka.
Chaired by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, the Telangana Cabinet discussed several important issues, including taking over of metro rail operations from Larsen & Toubro, and providing accident insurance to all government employees and pensioners in Telangana.
A note issued by the government on the decisions taken, seen by ThePrint, said the move to allocate land to the Congress was taken considering the policies and guidelines formulated by previous governments for building offices for political parties in districts.
Speaking to ThePrint, Dr Venkat Balmoor, MLC and Congress spokesperson, defended the move.
“Building its offices is a common decision taken by every party that is in power. Unlike the BRS, we are not acquiring prime land in all district headquarters. We will build our offices only in districts where we do not have it. Also, the land will be allocated to our Gandhi Trust, which looks into all party activities. So, there will be full transparency in allocation,” he said.
Significantly, the principal opposition party, BRS, has not reacted to the Telangana government’s decision and has chosen to stay mum given its previous earmarking of land for party offices in 2018.
When ThePrint reached out to the party for a comment, one of its key spokespersons declined, stating that he was out of Hyderabad.
The BJP has slammed the cabinet decision. Its floor leader in the assembly, Nirmal MLA Alleti Maheshwar Reddy, told ThePrint that “we will ask for a similar allocation for our party offices when the assembly session convenes”.
“The conditions that apply to them should apply to us as well without any prejudice. However, we will discuss this matter internally once the revenue department announces the land allocation.”
While the extent of land to be allotted for the Congress offices is yet to be decided by the Telangana revenue department, the decision comes just a week after allegations surfaced about the Karnataka Congress being allotted offices of municipal and local bodies in the state.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar has also declared his intention to construct 100 Congress Bhavans across the state, with Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Council, accusing the Congress of “illegally” obtaining 31 sites for construction of new party offices.
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2018 BRS policy
In 2018, the then BRS government, led by K. Chandrashekar Rao as CM, had approved a policy to allot up to one acre of land in each district headquarters for political party offices at a nominal rate of Rs 100 per square yard. A decision was also taken to allot land to the BRS for party offices in all districts. The cabinet decision further included an exemption from property tax for those party offices.
Currently, BRS headquarters Telangana Bhavan in Hyderabad is situated in the upmarket Banjara Hills area and the party owns about 11 acres of prime land in the city’s Kokapet.
Several petitions were filed in the Telangana High Court challenging the grant of government land for party offices. In 2024, the HC ordered action against the BRS office in Nalgonda, saying it was constructed illegally without prior permission from the municipality. A fine of Rs 1 lakh was also levied.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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