BENGALURU: Congress legislators on Tuesday urged Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot to disqualify BJP MLC and Leader of Opposition in the Council Chaluvadi Narayanswamy, alleging that he illegally acquired a civic amenities site belonging to the Karnataka Housing Board (KHB) in Hoskote for construction of a school.
This comes in the backdrop of BJP leader Lahar Singh Siroya recently accusing the government of allotting a five acre CA site in a aerospace park to a trust run by AICC president Mallikarjuna Kharge and his sons Priyank and Rahul Kharge. The governor has sought clarification from the government over allotment of site to Kharge’s trust.
Congress leaders, including MLC Saleem Ahmed, met the governor and submitted a memorandum demanding action against Narayanswamy. In their memorandum, the legislators alleged that Narayanaswamy was a director of KHB between 2002 and 2004. During that period, he acquired the land for the school which he “owned”. The KHB has issued a no objection certificate for the land, they alleged.
“In 2006, Narayaswamy, acting as president of the educational trust, executed a conditional sale deed for construction of a telecommunication building. It is presently given on rent to a food joint which is misappropriation of a CA site to run a commercial restaurant,” they alleged. Further, the memorandum said under section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, it is a punishable offence if a public servant intentionally enriches himself illicitly during the period of his office. Narayanswamy has deceived the board and public by getting a conditional sale deed of the CA site.
The Congress leaders stated that given the lightening speed with which the governor had acted in the past few days, they hoped that Narayanswamy is also held to the same standards. “We hope that your excellency does not apply a different standard to Narayanswamy merely because he is a member of the ruling party at the Centre,” the Congress leaders stated.