JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy on Thursday strongly criticised a private Kannada news channel for telecasting a programme against legislators who had taken ‘G’ category sites and alleged that the owner of the channel himself had indulged in “golmal” land dealings.
Participating in the budget debate in the Assembly, he said the channel had been telecasting the programme ‘Golmal Shasakaru’ on how a number of legislators had illegally obtained ‘G’ category sites.
“It is not proper to humiliate the legislators in this way. The channel was saying that the legislators had not disclosed information that they owned the sites to the Election Commission of India,” he said.
“The owner of the channel had taken 172 acres of land at about Rs 1.5 lakh per acre from the government. Now, he is selling an acre at Rs 1.37 crore to Rs 1.50 crore. Who will question this,” he asked.
Information sought
When the ruling party and the Opposition party members sought to know the name of the channel owner, Kumaraswamy said it was Rajeev Chandrashekar, who is also a member of Parliament.
“A person who is involved in land ‘golmal’ has been fighting against corruption. He has also written a column in a newspaper supporting the anti-corruption movement of Anna Hazare,” he said. He strongly defended the legislators obtaining ‘G’ category sites, saying they had taken the sites in order to contest elections. There are some legislators who are finding it difficult to repay the loan they had taken to fight elections, he added.
“As the chief minister, I had asked the officials to consider giving a plot to Dalit Kriya Samiti, which had submitted an application. Was it a crime? If it is a crime, then order a CBI probe into the issue,” he said.
Deccan Herald is on WhatsApp Channels| Join now for Breaking News & Editor's Picks