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'Panchayat land acquired by Haryana govt to favour trust'
In an apparent attack on the first family of the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday alleged that rules were bent to acquire 1,400 acres in Gurgaon's Ullawas village by the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust and asked the ruling party if its stand was the same on farmers' land everywhere.
"A case is pending in the Punjab-Haryana high court and what the documents show is a matter of grave concern. In Ullawas village of Gurgaon more than 1,400 acres of the
panchayat land, which is a collective property, has been acquired by the Haryana government to favour a trust," Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley told reporters.
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'Norms for compensation should be same across country'
He was referring to reports that 1,417 acres of land was acquired by the state government in Ullawas village and released in favour of Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust. Congress President Sonia Gandhi, her son and party general secretary Rahul and daughter Priyanka Vadhra are trustees of this body.
The landowners who have filed the case in court include artist Anjolie Ela Menon.
Jaitley said that since land is the basis of livelihood of the farmers, the same norms for compensation should be applied across the country, be it in Bhatta-Parsaul (in Greater Noida) or Gurgaon.
Rahul Gandhi had visited Bhatta-Parsaul despite imposition of Section 144 in the area and criticised the Bahujan Samaj Party government in Uttar Pradesh for the alleged atrocities against farmers.
"What holds good for Bhatta-Parsaul should equally hold good for Ullawas," Jaitley said. He asked the Congress to make a clean breast of the role of those who are involved in this issue.
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'Sonia Gandhi should confirm or deny involvement'
"Congress should make clear who the members of this trust are. Who had the powers to give the land on lease without completing the acquisition process? Everybody should be allowed to bid and the highest bidder should get the land," Jaitley said.
On whether he felt the Gandhi family was involved, the BJP leader he would not name anybody till he had "doubly verified" the facts, but Sonia Gandhi and her family should either confirm or deny their involvement in the matter.
He sought to know if the attitude of Rahul Gandhi was the same towards farmers of Ullawas in Gurgaon as it was in case of Noida farmers.
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'You cannot have double standards'
"A lot of people will have to introspect. You cannot have double standards. Bodies floated by politicians should be acquired through the same process as is done by the common man. This whole sense of entitlement that some people have must come to an end," Jaitley said, in a veiled attack on the Gandhi family.
The BJP also charged that remaining part of the panchayat land has been given to a person close to the Gandhi family and also to private builders.
"Some of this land has been given to a dentist H R Prem Sachdev. He seems to be related to the first party (the Gandhis) and his letterhead makes it clear," the BJP leader said.
Sachdev runs the L Gela Ram Memorial Dental, Orthodontic and Implant Centre and reportedly holds camps for people in Sonia and Rahul Gandhi's constituencies in Uttar Pradesh.
"Another part of the land, around 350 acres, have been given to private builders," he added.