The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Return excess land to owners, demands Congress

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 15, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Return excess land to owners, demands Congress

Special Correspondent

Land has been acquired for the controversial Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor project

MEETING OF PRESIDENTS: Congress leaders M. Veerappa Moily, N. Dharam Singh, M. Mallikarjun Kharge, H.K. Patil and Siddaramaiah at a convention of Block and District Congress Committee presidents in Bangalore on Monday. — Photo: K. Bhagya Prak ash

BANGALORE: The Congress today accused the State Government of promoting real-estate business in Bangalore rural and Mysore districts and demanded that excess land acquired for the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project be returned to the owners.

Inaugurating a convention of newly elected presidents of Block Congress Committees and District Congress Committees here, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president M. Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (Secular) had purchased land from farmers in Kanakapura, Bidadi and Ramanagaram and in Mysore district. Therefore, the JD(S)-BJP government had no commitment to reclaiming the excess land and returning it to farmers, he said.

Mr. Kharge said the Congress's spectacular victory in the taluk and zilla panchayat elections forced the JD(S) to withdraw support to the Dharam Singh government. The former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda hatched a political conspiracy and worked towards the formation of the JD(S)- BJP government. The performance of the coalition government was poor on all fronts, and it was the duty of the BCC and DCC presidents to inform people about the failures of the Kumaraswamy government, he said.

He quoted The Hindu -CNN-IBN State of the Nation Survey conducted by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) and said it clearly indicated a rise in popular support for the Congress and its president, Sonia Gandhi. As many as 44 per cent of the people interviewed for the survey supported the party, he said.

`Government will fall'

M. Veerappa Moily, former Chief Minister and Chairman of the second Administrative Reforms Commission, charged that the JD(S)-BJP came to power with the support of the mining lobby and predicted its downfall in the near future.

The former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah lashed out at Mr. Deve Gowda and said the number of JD(S) MLAs would be reduced to a single digit if elections were held now. "The politics of opportunism" would not survive for long, he said.

Stating that from Wednesday he would tour 23 districts to create awareness about bad governance by the JD(S)-BJP coalition, Mr. Siddaramaiah said many leaders of the All-India Progressive Janata Dal would join the Congress at a convention on September 3 here. Ms. Gandhi would inaugurate the convention, he said.

Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly N. Dharam Singh, Leader of the Opposition in the Council H.K. Patil and the former Minister D.B. Chandre Gowda spoke. Tejaswini Sriramesh and Ambarish, MPs, and V. Somanna, D.K. Shivakumar and Roshan Baig, MLAs, were present.

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