Guj Congress accuses ex-CM Rupani of Rs 27,000 crore land scam; BJP govt calls allegation 'baseless'
Ahmedabad, Apr 27: The Congress in Gujarat on Wednesday accused former chief minister Vijay Rupani of indulging in Rs 27,000 crore scam by offering to builders a large portion of the land in Surat that was reserved for civic amenities under the government's urban development plan.
However, the BJP government in the state termed the allegation as "baseless", and said provisions of law and representations made by people were considered while giving a nod to the Surat Urban Development Authority's (SUDA) Development Plan (DP) for 2035.
Senior Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia alleged that former CM Rupani, who then also held the portfolio of urban development ministry, had tweaked the DP-2035 of SUDA submitted to the government for approval on the basis of a report of an advisory committee by reducing the amount of land reserved for civic purposes.
Rupani had signed the note on November 12, 2019, giving instruction to only reserve 75.35 lakh square metres of land, out of the 1.66 crore square metres proposed to be kept reserved for public purpose as per the development plan prepared by SUDA for the city for the year 2035, he claimed.
Around 90 lakh square metres of land was thus returned to the builders, which would be worth around Rs 27,000 crore, Modhwadia said.
"Urban town planning scheme has become a milking cow for the leaders of the ruling BJP leaders...We demand a probe into this by an inquiry commission headed by a sitting a high court judge," the former Congress president alleged.
"Rupani twisted the proposal and 90 lakh square metres of land was returned to the builders. The price of the land will be Rs 27,000 crore. This is just about one city, but we believe this is a state-wide scam," he said.
Reacting to the allegation, the BJP government in the state currently led by Bhupendra Patel said the action was taken under the provisions of the Urban Development Act as well as after considering various orders of the Supreme Court and Gujarat High Court regarding cancellation of reservation of the land.
A consultation committee was formed to take consider the submissions made by people in this regard, the government added.
Rupani had resigned as the chief minister in September last year, 15 months ahead of the Assembly polls in Gujarat.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
