Mallikarjun Kharge’s Family Decides To Surrender the Plot of a Five-Acre in Bengaluru’s Aerospace Park Amid MUDA Row

AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge's family has decided to surrender the plot of a five-acre site in Bengaluru's Aerospace Park, just two months after strongly contending that the allotment was meant for developing a "multi-skill development centre" by a family trust. Likewise, CM Siddaramaiah’s wife BM Parvathi surrendered 14 plots in Mysuru after controversy erupted in the MUDA land allotment scam case. Mallikarjun Kharge's son Rahul wrote to the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) to cancel the ownership of the five-acre civic amenity site allotted to the family's Siddhartha Vihar Trust. In his letter to the KIADB, Rahul wrote, "An educational institute cannot function effectively while facing mala fide, baseless, and politically motivated allegations... We do not wish to be drawn into controversies which will divert our attention and efforts from our primary objective of empowering the disempowered through education and social service."

The Siddaramaiah-led Congress government allotted the CA site to Trust headed by Rahul Kharge in March 2024, and the BJP accused the state government of misusing its power. The trust includes Mallikarjun Kharge, his wife Radhabai, son Priyank Kharge, son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani, and younger son Rahul Kharge. The Karnataka BJP had called for a CBI investigation into the land allotment and also demanded the removal of Mallikarjun Kharge's son Priyanka Kharge from the Karnataka Cabinet, accusing him of facilitating an illegal land deal for his family by the KIADB. Meanwhile, Priyank Kharge took to X and slammed the BJP for creating "needless controversy" over the issue. He said that Siddhartha Vihar Trust is an educational, cultural and charitable trust and not a family or private entity. "The trust did not wish to be drawn into long-drawn controversies which will divert attention and efforts from the primary objective of education and social service," he said.

Priyank had said since the trust's objective was to set up a multi-skill development centre in the CA site, what is "wrong" with the land allocation? He had said there was no subsidy or subsidized rate for civic amenity plots allotted to SC/ST organizations and defended the trust's eligibility. He had noted that only 43 organizations applied for 193 available sites, dismissing the allegations of nepotism and influence as "baseless". When the controversy broke out, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah defended the land allocation, stating, "It has been done by law." He had questioned the BJP's previous decisions, asking, "How did the BJP (while in power) allot the land for Chanakya University? We have done it in accordance with law."