Kondaiah threatens action on land grab charge

Bellary: Senior Congress leader, K. C. Kondaiah on Saturday accused Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president, Dr. G. Parameshwar of going to the media with allegations that he had grabbed government land meant for construction of the party’s office without giving him a chance to tell his side of the story.

“He should have asked me for a clarification. Instead he went to the media with these charges for reasons best known to him. I will shortly decide on taking legal action in this matter and on bringing it to the attention of the party high command as I have been humiliated over this,” he said, producing two documents to prove that he was legally occupying the 5070 sq ft land given to the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Trust of which he is a member.

One document, a report submitted to district in- charge minister, P. T. Parameshwar Naik by Bellary de­­puty commissioner A­d­i­tya Amlan Biswas, says govern­ment land cannot be granted on lease to a political party and the plot in question was given to the Ra­jiv Gandhi Memorial Trust on a 30-year lease for a training institute and the building was under construction in accordance with the directions issued by his office on January 21, 2013.

Kondaiah also produced a letter written to him by former president of the Bellary district Congress Committee, Siraj Sheikh saying that the Congress had not applied for the land he was accused of grabbing for the party office in 2001, as claimed by some local Congress leaders.