Karnataka minister rejects land grabbing charge

BENGALURU: Karnataka PWD minister and chief minister H D Kumaraswamy’s brother, H D Revanna, Wednesday rejected allegations that he had grabbed over 54 acres of government land and demanded that the matter be probed.nnFormer Congress minister A Manju has accused members of Revanna’s family of grabbing the governmentland spread over various survey numbers in Somanahalli Kavalvillage in Hassan district.nnHe alleged that fake documents were created for the purpose.nnCountering the allegation, Revanna asserted that thegovernment should immediately take possession of the land if there was anything wrong in it.nn”Whoever has done it, whether be it Revanna or his familymembers, the government should immediately take possession of the government land,” Revanna told reporters.nnRevanna said Manju was a minister in the Siddaramaiahgovernment and now he was “makingsome allegations.”nn”Whoever has grabbed government land, let the government take it in its custody.Who has asked government not to act against it? I am not going to file any defamation (suit) against anybody. If I start doing it, I will be at loss,” Revanna said.nnThe issue gave ammunition to the opposition BJP to target theCongress-JDS coalition government.nnRidiculing the coalition partners clashing with each other, BJP’s Karnataka unit chief B S Yeddyurappa said “We all know that former prime minister H D Deve Gowda’schildren are involved in scams.nnHowever, in recent timesformer Congress minister A Manju has alleged that in Hassan district 54 acres and 29 guntas (one acre equals 40 guntas) of government land, whose value is worth Rs 3,000 crore, has been registered in their(Deve Gowda family) names illegally,” Yeddyurappa said.nnHowever, the chief ministerwas conspicuous by his silence, Yeddyurappa said at the inaugural of the the party’s state level special meeting at thePalace Grounds.nnFlaying Kumaraswamy for not reacting to the charges and Revanna for taking the accusations “casually,” Yeddyurappa said the BJP had in the past brought out the “scam” in public in the form of a booklet.nnSource: Press Trust of India