Bengaluru: Minister for Commerce and Industries and Infrastructure M.B. Patil lambasted Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy for crying hoarse for allotting five-acre Civic Amenities (CA) site to Siddhartha Vihara Trust of Rahul Kharge, son of AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge, at Aerospace Park in city.

Addressing media persons, Patil turned the tables on Narayanaswamy for getting two-acre land allotted in Hebbal Industrial Area in Mysuru in the year 2006, only to build a shed, without starting any industry for the last 18 years.

“He is a ‘shed man’ who is no match to an entrepreneur like Rahul Kharge and unfortunately we have to learn lessons from such people,” said Minister Patil, ridiculing Narayanaswamy.

Rahul Kharge has cracked Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam twice and is an engineering graduate. He is also a recipient of DRDO Award. If not for such a person of calibre, to whom can we allot the land, like how BJP allotted the land to whichever persons they wanted to, flouting all the norms, said Minister Patil.

Narayanaswamy had got the industrial land sanctioned, with an undertaking to start Brindavan Software company. He later assured to start a garment factory by the same name and a godown later, only to change the land use pattern subsequently, without taking any of the plans to logical end. As per rules, the Government issued an order dated Nov. 11, 2016 to take back the land, but he moved High Court and brought a stay order. Now, he has been raking up the issue only for the sake of free publicity.

Ironically, during the previous BJP Government, Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani got himself sanctioned 25 acres of land at Navanagar Industrial Area in Bagalkot on March 12, 2012, where he is running Tejas International Residential School. The very land was meant for Agrotech Park. Again when he (Nirani) became Minister, on Dec. 19, 2022, he got sanctioned additional 6.17 acres of land at the same place. All these information are available on internet, said Minister Patil.