Land deal: Congress demands Gujarat CM resignation

The Congress on Friday latched on to a controversy surrounding Anar Patel, daughter of Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel, to pose some questions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demand a Supreme Court-monitored SIT probe and resignation of the Gujarat CM.

Asking Mr Modi to “come clean” on the issue, the party sought to know from him whether he was aware of a “clear conflict of interest” of then revenue minister Anandiben Patel while allocating government land near Gir lion sanctuary to a company which allegedly has close business links with Ms Anar Patel.

“Was this allocation based on a Cabinet decision and endorsed by (then) chief minister (Mr Modi) and whether conflict of interest, if any, was disclosed ” senior AICC spokesperson and deputy leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha, Mr Anand Sharma, asked at the AICC briefing.

He said the issue will “definitely” be raised in the Budget Session of Parliament as it pertained directly to the PM, “who has claimed that he has zero tolerance towards corruption”.

Mr Sharma said the truth will emerge only through an independent probe by a Supreme Court-monitored SIT as agencies like CBI and ED cannot be trusted.

“We demand that an SIT-monitored by the Supreme Court be established for a time-bound probe in the entire matter. For a fair probe, the Gujarat CM must resign,” he said.

Quoting information available in the public domain, he claimed that in 2010, the Gujarat government allotted 250 acres of land next to Gir lion sanctuary to Wildwoods Resorts and Realties Pvt Ltd for setting up a resort which was allotted at a price of Rs 15 per square metre or Rs 60,000 per acre.

“Total price of the land, thus, came to only Rs 1.5 crore whereas the estimated market price of this land was to the tune of Rs 50 lakh per acre — a total of Rs 125 crore for 250 acres. The company then purchased adjoining agricultural land measuring 172 acres, taking the total of land owned by it to 422 acres,” Mr Sharma alleged.

As non-farmers are not permitted to purchase agricultural land, the company was granted permission to purchase private agricultural land. In March, 2011, the state government permitted conversion of agricultural land to non-agricultural as purchased by the company.

He said one of the partners of the company transferred Wildwoods to another company. He alleged that two promoters of the two companies are said to be business partners of Ms Anar Patel.