After Siddaramaiah, Mallikarjun Kharge returns land

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and his family have decided to return five acres of land allotted to the Siddhartha Vihar Trust, owned by the Kharge family, amid an ongoing probe into the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allocation scam.The land was initially allotted to Kharge’s son, Rahul Kharge, in the Hardware Sector of the Hi-Tech Defence and Aerospace Park in Bagalur by the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB).This comes after Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah opted to return a MUDA land allotment that had drawn criticism from the opposition.
The controversy dates back to March 2024, when the Congress-led Karnataka government granted the land to the Siddhartha Vihar Trust, headed by Rahul Kharge. The BJP criticized the move, with Amit Malviya, head of the BJP’s IT cell, accusing the Congress of “misuse of power” and “nepotism.” The land was allocated to the trust under the Scheduled Caste (SC) quota. Several members of the Kharge family, including Mallikarjun Kharge, his son-in-law and Kalaburagi MP Radhakrishna, and Rahul Kharge, serve as trustees. The five-acre plot is part of a 45.94-acre area designated for the Hi-Tech Defence Aerospace Park by the KIADB.    
Activist Dinesh Kallahalli filed a complaint with Karnataka Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot, alleging irregularities in the land allotment process. He also sought permission to prosecute Karnataka Industries Minister MB Patil through the state Lokayukta. Minister Patil has denied any wrongdoing, stating that Rahul Kharge was a “qualified applicant” and that the allotment was made transparently through a single-window approval process.Later, the BJP MP said that 19 acres of government land was given free to the International Institute of Pali, Sanskrit and Comparative Philosophy in Gulbarga, run by the Siddhartha Vihara Trust managed by the the Kharge family. Trustees of the Siddhartha Trust include Kharge's wife, son-in-law and two sons, he claimed. "The secretary of the Pali Institute is Radhakrishna, the son-in-law of Shri Kharge and sitting Gulbarga MP." In March 2014, the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government gave 16 acres of government land on lease for 30 years to the Pali Institute, the BJP MP claimed, adding that in a couple of years, additional land of 3 acres was added to the 16-acres leased property. "And finally, in March 2017, all 19 acres were transferred free of cost to the Kharge family-run Institute by the Shri Siddaramaiah-led Congress government."

( State Correspondent)