KCR gives clean chit to Cong. in land deals

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday said the Congress committed no mistake in the land transactions involving the real estate major DLF at Raidurg here during the party’s rule in the past ten years.

“There was no ill motive on the part of Congress government to allot 31.5 acres to DLF at one site and then allot the same extent of land to a special purpose vehicle at an alternate site because of the presence of heritage precincts at the former. It was done in all fairness”, Mr. Rao said when the debate on the inconclusive calling attention motion to discuss a matter of urgency last week resumed in the Assembly on Monday.

In the discussion on the subject on Thursday last, Mr. Rao had denied the role of TRS government in the transfer of land and said it was all done by the Congress government. He had also launched a virulent attack then on the TDP for levelling allegations that the land transfer was done to favour My Home promoter J. Rameswara Rao who was part of the SPV.

Mr. Rao informed the House on Monday that he did not mean Congress committed any mistake in the auction of 105 acres to DLF, My Home, Bengaluru-based Puravankara and four other firms at Raidurg. He only found fault with the campaign projecting irregularities in the transactions. “Since the auction and transfer of land was alright, I signed the file completing the transactions after our government came to power”, he said.

He also said there was no financial loss to the government on account of giving away alternate site to the SPV. He appealed to Puravankara not to back out of the deal but take possession of 19 acres of land that it was allotted without insisting on return of Rs. 600 crore. The outgo will come to Rs. 900 crore with interest. “Who will pay?”

Earlier, Congress MLA Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka criticised the Chief Minister for blaming the Congress instead of answering whether the transactions were alright or government suffered any loss. The treasury benches again obstructed TDP MLA A. Revanth Reddy but the Speaker S. Madhusudhana Chary closed the debate asking the government to table all relevant files before him for scrutiny by members. But, the TDP shied away saying there was no point after the issue was closed.