Union HRD Minister’s intervention sought in Kancha Gachibowli land auction; Laxman raises issue in RS

BJP opposes Telangana Congress Government's land auction, the party MPs seek Union HRD Minister’s intervention in the auction. They raised concerns about environmental impact

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has vowed to go to any extent to prevent the Congress Government in Telangana from going ahead with the auction of 400 acres of land in Kancha Gachibowli, with its leaders taking up the issue to New Delhi and raising the issue in the Parliament on Tuesday (April 1, 2025).

In the morning in Hyderabad, legislature party leader A. Maheshwar Reddy, deputy floor leader Payal Shankar and others were ‘house arrested’ by the police to halt them from their prior announced programme of visiting the land and express their solidarity with the agitating students.

Soon, in the national capital, Telangana party president and Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy led a delegation of party MPs to the Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Dharmendra Pradhan, to give a representation seeking his intervention and ensure the public auction does not take place.

The MPs, including Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar, Eatala Rajender, K. Visveshwar Reddy, D. Aravind and G. Nagesh informed him that there will be large scale destruction of flora and fauna if the auction is taken up as it is the home for many plants, animals and birds species. They also brought to his notice about the protests taken up by students and others.

In Rajya Sabha, K. Laxman raised the issue during the zero hour and demanded preservation of the “land allocated to the University of Hyderabad (UoH)“ and instruct the State Government to demarcate the boundaries to facilitate the construction of boundaries wall to avoid encroachments. He charged the government of “grabbing” UoH land and significant portions were already taken away for various other purposes.

Back in Hyderabad, Mr. Maheshwar Reddy and Mr. Shankar, in separate press conferences, took strong objection to the police obstructing their planned visit to the contentious land and meet the agitating students. “We demand the government to set up an all party fact finding committee and allow legislators to ascertain the facts. We will meet students of universities across Telangana to agitate against this anarchic government. Today it is UoH, tomorrow it could be same fate of other universities too. How long will the police repression last?” asked Mr. Reddy.

He also urged potential investors not to participate in the proposed auction and accused the Congress government of following the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) regime in taking up repressive measures. Mr. Shankar said Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy should be held accountable for the ongoing agitation since he had opposed auction of public lands when in Opposition.