NEW DELHI: In an apparent attack on the first family of the Congress, BJP on Tuesday alleged 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 here.
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 BSP government in Uttar Pradesh for the alleged atrocities against farmers. (PTI)