Congress demands resignation of Gujarat CM, targets PM too

NEW DELHI: The Congress has demanded the resignation of Gujarat chief minister Anandiben and a probe by a Supreme Court-monitored special investigation team into the land deal near Gir Lion Sanctuary linked to the CM’s daughter Anar Patel and a business firm she is associated with.

Reacting to an ET report on Friday, AICC senior spokesperson Anand Sharma said: “Allotment of 250 acres of government land next to Gir Lion Sanctuary without any valuation or price determination for a pittance was in gross violation of all known procedures and regulations.”

Claiming that the land was worth Rs 125 crore, Sharma alleged there was “nepotism, conflict of interest and brazen plundering of public land to promote commercial and business interests of entities closely connected to the kin of CM Anandi Patel” and demanded PM Modi explain how as Gujarat CM he allowed the deal to go through. He said his party would raise the issue in the upcoming budget session of Parliament.

The Gujarat BJP responded by alleging that the Congress was misdirecting people by ‘parading a crow as a tiger’. Gujarat BJP spokesperson IK Jadeja said that the allegation that the government provided land at a throw away price in Amreli to Wild Woods Resorts was an effort of the Opposition for media attention. Dragging the daughter of the Gujarat chief minister and her family was an effort of the Congress to tarnish the unblemished image of the first woman chief minister, he alleged. He said valuation of land is done at the district level, chief executive valuer and state level. Only after that it is cleared by the state cabinet. The process should be known to the Congress, since it was in power. After such process, there is no scope for devaluation of land. When the land was allotted to Wild Wood Resorts, no family member of any senior leader of BJP was directly or indirectly associated with the same, he added.

But the Congress spokesman in New Delhi demanded that the PM answer three specific questions: “Was the allocation of the public land next to Gir Lion Sanctuary in public interest as also in conformity with laws?” “Was proper valuation or price determination for this government land done?

“Was Modi aware of conflict of interest of the then revenue minister Anandi Patel while allocating the said land?”