Govt shielding Cong leaders in wakf land scam, says Eshwarappa

Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council K S Eshwarappa has said that the State government was shielding Congress leaders involved in the Rs 4 lakh-crore State Wakf Board land scam.

Speaking to mediapersons here on Thursday, Eshwarappa said that Wakf Minister Qamarul Islam and Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, N Dharam Singh, C K Jaffer Sharief, C M Ibrahim, K Rahman Khan and N A Haris were involved in the scam.

“It is because of this reason that the government is not keen on tabling Karnataka State Minorities Commission’s report on the scam in the legislature despite a direction from the court.

“Congress leaders have grabbed 57,000 acres of wakf land. It would be contempt of court if the government did not table the report in the legislature,” Eshwarappa said.

Referring to water crisis in several parts of the State, Eshwarappa said that the government had so far set up 1,600 pure drinking water units against the promised 7,000. He sought to know when the remaining units would be installed.

He also alleged that the State government had not paid compensation to farmers who had lost their crops due to drought, despite the Centre releasing 1,540 crore for the purpose.