Lahar Singh claims 19 acres of land given for free to institute run by Siddhartha Vihara Trust of Kharge family

Rajya Sabha member from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lahar Singh Siroya on Monday alleged that the State government gave 19 acres of land in Kalaburagi district for free to International Institute of Pali, Sanskrit and Comparative Philosophy, run by the Siddhartha Vihara Trust managed by the M. Mallikarjun Kharge family. 

Rajya Sabha member from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lahar Singh Siroya on Monday alleged that the State government gave 19 acres of land in Kalaburagi district for free to International Institute of Pali, Sanskrit and Comparative Philosophy, run by the Siddhartha Vihara Trust managed by the M. Mallikarjun Kharge family. 

However, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Priyank Kharge hit back at Mr. Siroya clarifying that the institute was a public trust with the Kalaburagi Deputy Commissioner representing the Karnataka government as the author of the trust.

He said the institute was established by the Union Department of Human Resources, the Siddhartha Vihar Trust, represented by the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan (now Central Sanskrit University), New Delhi, and the State Department of Higher Education.

Mr. Siroya had recently alleged irregularities in the allotment of a five-acre civic amenities site to the Siddhartha Vihara Trust in Aerospace Park, Bengaluru. Following a private complaint over the same, Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot has now sought clarification over the same from the Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka. 

Mr. Kharge said the announcement to set up the Institute was made by the late Pranab Mukherjee in his 2012-13 Budget speech, and subsequently on a request by the Siddhartha Vihara Trust for assistance from the State government, support was announced in the 2013-14 State Budget presented by the then Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar. 

“In March 2014, the Siddaramaiah-led government gave 16 acres of government land on lease for 30 years to the institute. In a couple of years, an additional three acres were added to the 16-acre leased property. Finally, in March 2017, all 19 acres were transferred for free to the Kharge family-run institute by the Siddaramaiah-led government. An important fact is that Mr. Kharge’s son, Mr. Priyank Kharge, was a Cabinet Minister in the then Karnataka government, like now, when the land was granted,” an open letter by Mr. Siroya said, demanding a probe by an independent agency. 

Radha Mohan Das Agarwal, general secretary, BJP, in-charge of party affairs in Karnataka, posted Mr. Siroya’s letter and demanded that Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, answer these allegations.