It was a public trust not private: Kondaiah

Bangalore: Senior Congress leader, K.C. Kondaiah, who was accused of usurping a piece of land in Bellary, rebuffed the charges and said he would give a fitting reply to those who levelled the serious allegations.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Kondaiah produced 15 documents to back his argument. According to the documents produced by him, the three major charges pertaining to formation of the trust, reconstitution of the trust and the proposed activity, were false.

He claimed that late M.Y. Ghorpade, M. Diwakar Babu and Allum Veerabhadrappa were never trustees of the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Trust. Though this was discussed, no one was interested in joining the trust, Kondaiah clarified.

Finally, he formed a private trust in 2005 along with his wife and son which was later converted into a public trust. "I knew a private trust cannot carry out social activities. Activity of a private trust might not get the bona fide status of a public trust. So, I decided to involve eminent people and accordingly, I did that in 2008 and set up a public trust," he said.

Rubbishing the allegation that the Trust was to acquire land for building the district Congress office, Kondaiah argued that under the Karnataka Land Revenu and other acts governing land allotment, no political party was entitled to get government land at subsidised price.

"Our trust is intended to carry out educational activities, creating awareness among people on environmental issues, social upliftment and rural development activities. So, the revenue model proposed for the Trust is to build a commercial complex and earn revenue and through which, training programmes and other social services be carried out," Kondaiah said.

"I will meet KPCC president, Dr G. Parameshwar and give the documents. I think by Thursday, the deputy commissioner will give a report which will clear the air," he said.