The government’s plans to allot 400 acres of land for development of an international school and other spiritual-oriented institutions in association with Isha Foundation is snowballing into a controversy, with political parties, especially the Congress, strongly opposing the move.
The government is said to have earmarked 400 acres at Mulapadu, 25 km from the city, to Isha Foundation. “Just because the spiritual guru conducted three days yoga sessions for MLAs, MPs and others, TDP Chief N. Chandrababu Naidu is allotting 400 acres of prime land to the foundation as Guru dakshina. This is against the rules and we will oppose it,” APCC president N. Raghuveera Reddy said here on Wednesday.
“There is nothing wrong in allotting five acres for such foundations, but 400 acres are way too much. In 2011, the Congres, in association with other parties, had issued orders on the quantum of lands to be allotted for setting up a hospitals and education institutions. On the one hand, Mr. Naidu takes over 33,000 acres fertile lands for capital construction, and he allots 400 acres to Isha Foundation on the other. It is public property and the government cannot take unilateral decisions,” said Mr. Reddy.
Party to launch agitation
The State unit of the Congress will launch an agitation against the government for its “failure” to fulfil its poll promises.
Initially it was the BJP government, which had betrayed the State by its failure to grant special category status to the State, but now even the TDP leaders were following suit and this was evident at the party’s MPs meeting held on Tuesday, he said.
“The ‘true colours’ of the BJP-TDP alliance were exposed as both the parties were deceiving the people over Polavaram project. While the Central government alloted meagre Rs.100 crore for a project of its magnitude, the State wanted to put in cold storage by taking up the Pattiseema project, which serves no purpose as far as the State is concerned,” he said.
