Mandya, Aug 28 (IANS): Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel H.D. Kumaraswamy on Wednesday attacked Karnataka Minister for RDPR, IT and BT Priyank Kharge over the alleged illegal allotment of Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) land.

“Priyank Kharge, who advises the nation, should explain on what basis this land was allotted to him,” the Union Minister said when asked about the Kharge family’s acquisition of a CA site (Civic Amenity site) from KIADB.

He said that the Kharge family could have bought any private land with money and there was no need to get KIADB land.

“This is an abuse of power. Those who preach to the nation must answer for this,” the Union Minister said.

Kumaraswamy said that he is “pleased” that Congress is planning the ‘Raj Bhavan Chalo’ on August 30.

“They should also march to Rashtrapati Bhavan and even visit Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi’s residences in Delhi,” he said.

He said that Congress has accused him in a case which has already been settled. “They are claiming that I committed a grave crime. They should investigate with the Governor’s approval,” he said.

He said that their (Congress) leader had purchased land in the name of a dead person and made a living by de-notifying lands.

“Congress has no moral authority to talk about me,” he said.

He said that Congress has always misused ministerial letterheads and there are also reports of signature discrepancies in Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) records.

He added that irrespective of attempts to cover up the MUDA case, the truth will remain the same - it involves government land.

“They grabbed government land and obtained MUDA land sites,” he alleged.

The Union Minister said that there is no objection to acquiring as many sites as required according to the law but creating false records and exploiting officials to do such things is wrong.