Will seize allotted India Inc land: Cong

State Congress president Arjun Modhwadia on Thursday said if his party came to power in December 2012 election, it would seize the land allotted by the Narendra Modi government to industrialists in Gandhinagar.

He made these comments in reaction to the Justice (retd) M B Shah Commission giving a clean chit to Modi in 17 cases of land allotment to industrialists for which the Congress had submitted a memorandum to the President of India and demanded a probe by an independent agency.

In cases where the allotted land had already been used, Modhwadia said his party's government would conduct a revaluation for that land and charge market rates from them.

Modhwadia claimed that six companies — Rahejas, DLF, Puri Foundation, TCS, Aqualine Properties, Satyam Computers — were allotted huge tracts of prime land at nominal rates of Rs 450 per square metre in Gandhinagar while the South Western Air Command (SWAC) was given land at Rs 1818 per sq metre. He said Modi charged higher rates from India Air Force but charged less from industrialists.

"This indicates Modi is a recipient of kickbacks. This is the reason why SWAC was charged a high price for the land because it can't give 'prasad' (kickback)," the state Congress chief alleged.

Modhwadia said Modi appointed the Justice (retd) Shah commission in a haste to scuttle the probe by an independent agency.

"If Modi was really honest, he should have allowed the appointment of a Lokayukta and got it probed by the latter," Modhwadia said.

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