New Delhi, June 24 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday levelled serious allegations of land grabbing and corruption in Karnataka against Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and his son, Priyank Kharge, involving the Siddhartha Vihar Trust, claiming that there are multiple instances where the Kharge family has “usurped land belonging to the poor”.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi, party spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari stated that Mallikarjun Kharge and his son are involved in corruption and land grabbing in Karnataka through a trust named the Siddharth Vihar Trust.

The trust includes Mallikarjun Kharge, his son Priyank Kharge, his son-in-law, and his wife as members.

“Mallikarjun Kharge and his son, through a trust, are involved in land grabbing and corruption in Karnataka. The name of this trust is Siddhartha Vihara Trust. The trust includes Mallikarjun Kharge, his son Priyank Kharge, his son-in-law, and his wife. I will place before you not one but multiple cases of alleged corruption, showing how Mallikarjun Kharge, through this trust, occupied different parcels of land and used his power and influence to grab land belonging to the poor and attempted land loot at various locations.”

Bhandari presented multiple cases of alleged corruption involving Mallikarjun Kharge, demonstrating how the Congress chief used the trust to take possession of various land parcels, leveraged his power and influence to “usurp land belonging to the poor”, and attempted to “grab land” in several locations.

The first case of land loot, Bhandari claimed, is when in 2024, the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) allotted five acres of land to the Siddhartha Vihar Trust when the Congress government was in power, “under the pretext of research and development in aerospace and defence”.

The BJP spokesperson stated that the land was for industrial use but was instead granted to the trust.

“The question arises: did Mallikarjun Kharge and Priyank Kharge misuse their power and influence to grab five acres of industrial land in Karnataka, worth Rs 100 crore, through a private trust? Remember, Rahul Gandhi and the entire Gandhi-Vadra family – Robert Vadra, his brother-in-law – have also faced similar land grab allegations, and cases are ongoing. The same modus operandi that the Gandhi-Vadra family used for land loot has been repeated by Mallikarjun Kharge through the Siddharth Vihara Trust — a prime industrial land worth Rs 100 crore,” he added.

Bhandari stated that the Congress government in Karnataka allotted 19 acres of land to Kharge’s private trust.

“This meant that 19 acres of government land effectively became the private property of a trust whose members include Mallikarjun Kharge and his family. Did Mallikarjun Kharge use his power and influence to usurp this 19-acre plot in Gulbarga? The Congress party must answer why this land was misappropriated; Kharge faces allegations of corruption regarding this land grab and needs to come forward with a response,” he stated.

Referring to another instance, he remarked that the Siddharth Vihar Trust engaged in a “highly unusual act by fielding a ‘dummy’ seller”.

“The trust intended to transfer the land, and it ultimately ended up permanently with Mallikarjun Kharge’s private trust in Gulbarga. To this day, no one knows the identity of this seller. Thus, as a third method of corruption, Mallikarjun Kharge employed a dummy seller,” Bhandari added.

“Just as Robert Vadra grabs land wherever he sees it – and cases are ongoing against him – exactly the same is happening with the Siddhartha Vihara Trust. Wherever there is land in Karnataka, Mallikarjun Kharge, using his influence, grabs it through this trust. Kharge will have to answer for this,” the BJP leader added.

–IANS

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