H.D. Revanna

HASSAN: Former Minister for Public Works and Energy H.D. Revanna has said that those who spoke against Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) Limited when they were in the Opposition are now opposing the Government's move to introduce a Bill in the legislature to save the land of poor farmers.

Addressing presspersons here on Friday, he said when Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council H.K. Patil were in the Opposition, they urged the Government to stop NICE from executing the BMIC project accusing the company of usurping the land of poor farmers. Records in the Legislative Assembly and Council would substantiate his allegation, he added.

He said now they were finding fault with the Government's move of bringing in the Bill to streamline infrastructure development and utilisation of land.

Reacting to the allegation of former Minister for Information B. Shivaram that despite knowing the fact that a few senior officers of the Public Works Department had favoured NICE in acquiring more land by forging documents, he (Mr. Revanna) did not take any action, Mr. Revanna said that though a report by a team of officials stated that the company had acquired more land, the Department of Law and Parliamentary Affairs headed by Mr. Patil did not act. In fact, it was he (Mr. Revanna) who unearthed the "excess" land acquired by NICE when he was the Public Works Minister, he claimed.

On why Janata Dal (Secular) was against returning the "excess" land to farmers after taking it back from NICE, Mr. Revanna said that the issue involved legal ramifications and the party would take a decision on it after consulting legal experts.

With regard to the complaint by the Congress to the State Election Commission on the alleged false affidavit filed by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy related to his assets, he said nobody was above the law, the commission would take a decision on it.

The Chief Minister had decided to seek a judicial inquiry into the allegations by the Congress, he added.

On the alleged decision of the coalition Government to sanction 5,000 acres of land to real estate companies in and around Bangalore, he urged the Government to order an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the land allotments made by the Congress Government headed by S.M.Krishna and the coalition Government led by Mr. Kumaraswamy. He appealed to the legislators to pass a resolution seeking a probe into such allegations in the coming session of Legislative Assembly.

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