The allotment of a five acres land at an aerospace park Bengaluru to Siddhartha Viharaa Trust, an organisation run by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge's family, in March 2024 has sparked a fresh controversy amid the MUDA scam row.
The 5-acre land in the Hitech Defence Aerospace Park was granted to the trust under the Scheduled Caste (SC) quota.
The allotment of a five acres land at an aerospace park Bengaluru to Siddhartha Viharaa Trust, an organisation run by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge's family, in March 2024 has sparked a fresh controversy amid the MUDA scam row.
The Bharatiya Janata Party questioned the approval of a Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) site, with party leader Amit Malviya saying that this issue is "all about misuse of power, nepotism and conflict of interest".
The 5-acre land was granted under the Scheduled Caste (SC) quota to the Trust run by the Kharge family and chaired by the Congress national president's son Rahul.
The trustees include the Congress chief, his wife Radhabhai, son Rahul, son-in-law and Kalaburagi MP Radhakrishna and other family members.
The land was set meant for civic amenities in the Hitech Defence Aerospace Park near Bengaluru.
Notably, BJP MP Lahar Singh Siroya was the first to raise this issue, asking "When did the Kharge family become aerospace entrepreneurs to be eligible for KIADB land?" Siroya questioned as to how Industries Minister MB Patil consented to this allocation in March 2024.
"Will the Kharge family eventually have to give up this land like Mr Siddaramaiah will have to give up the controversial #MUDA sites in Mysore? Will this allocation be probed?" asked Siroya.
Notably, a complaint in this regard was also filed by an activist with Karnataka Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot, alleging irregularities in the allotment of the sites.
The activist had also requested the Governor to approve the permission for prosecution against Patil.
However, the Industries Minister MB Patil has dismissed the allegations made by Siroya, insisting that no rules were violated in the land allotment process.
Patil said that the trust's chairperson Rahul Kharge is qualified for the site. Responding to Siroya, he said, "Rahul Kharge is an IIT graduate who has expressed his intention to establish a Research and Development (R&D) Centre on the allotted land. His family has a longstanding involvement in various educational activities.”
He said that as per the KIADB norms, CA plots can be used for setting up Research and Development centres, centres of excellence, technical institutes, skill development centres, government offices, banks, hospitals, hotels, petrol stations, canteens, and residential facilities.
“Any interested and eligible person can apply for it and allotments will be made after recommendations from the State-level Single Window Committee," Patil explained.
Patil clarified that the Siddharth Vihara Trust has not been allotted an industrial plot at Aerospace Park but a CA plot for establishing an R&D centre at a prescribed price, without any discounts.
He also took a swipe at the Opposition parties and said that when BJP was in power, the party had allotted 116 acres of land to Chanakya University in an industrial area for a mere Rs 50 crore, resulting in a loss of Rs 137 crore to the state exchequer.
Patil said that there has been much more transparent system since he has taken charge, adding that CA plots are allotted only after state-level Single Window Committee approval.
"Additionally, for the first time, we have introduced a 24.10 per cent reservation for Scheduled Castes in the allotment of CA plots," the Industries Minister said.