Chandigarh/New Delhi, May 13
Controversial
multi-million rupee deals of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's
son-in-law Robert Vadra are among land deals and other irregularities
that will be probed by an inquiry commission, headed by a retired apex
court judge, a senior Haryana minister said on Wednesday.
State
Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma told media here that the commission
under the retired Supreme Court judge would inquire into all
irregularities committed in the past 10 years of the Congress rule in
the state, especially regarding land deals.
But the Congress
party reacted cautiously to the statement saying that the Bharatiya
Janata Party government in Haryana should first make an official
announcement.
In New Delhi, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala refused to acknowledge the development.
"I
can't react to it because there have been various BJP leaders saying
this for quite some time now that they would get it probed but nothing
happens... I would only react when Haryana Chief Minister (M.L.)
Khattar or his government spokesperson confirms it," he said.
The
probe announcement came just days after the Congress hardened its stand
on the land acquisition bill tabled by the Narendra Modi government in
parliament and said that it would oppose the provision as it was not in
the interests of farmers. The bill has been referred to a select panel
of both houses.
"All irregularities, including land deals, will
be probed. The notification of the commission will be issued on May 15
(Friday)," said Sharma, adding several complaints have been received by
the BJP government in the state, which assumed office in October last
year, regarding irregularities committed during the Congress rule.
Vadra
was accused of accumulating land in the national capital region (NCR)
area during the Congress government in Haryana led by Bhupinder Singh
Hooda.
In one particular deal in Gurgaon district, adjoining
Delhi, Vadra's company, Skylight Hospitality, sold a prime 3.5 acre plot
in Manesar area to realty major DLF in 2008 for Rs.58 crore.
The
land had cost his company only around Rs.15 crore and was sold to DLF
after obtaining change of land use (CLU) and other permissions from the
Hooda government.
Vadra made a clear Rs.43 crore but did not
share the profits with Haryana's town and country planning department.
But the Hooda government gave Vadra and his companies a 'clean chit'.
The
BJP, in March this year, had targeted the Congress, saying that there
was a "massive scam" in land deals in Haryana during the nearly
10-year-long Congress regime of Hooda.
The charge came after the
Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) blamed the Hooda government for
showering undue favours on Vadra, who made millions in the controversial
land deals. The CAG had indicated that the Hooda government had obliged
Vadra with quick sanction of the permissions required.
Following
the CAG report, tabled in the Haryana assembly in March, senior IAS
officer Ashok Khemka, who had cancelled the land deal between Vadra with
DLF, had said that he had been "vindicated" by the CAG report.
Vadra had also bought land in four districts of Gurgaon, Palwal, Faridabad and Mewat in Haryana, adjoining Delhi.
Alleging
that Vadra's land deals caused loss of crores of rupees to the state
exchequer, Khemka marked a probe into all land deals of Vadra and his
companies since 2005. But Vadra got a clean chit from the Hooda
government.
Three-time Delhi chief minister and senior Congress
leader Sheila Dikshit termed as "vindictive" the Haryana government's
decision to probe the Vadra land deals.
"What can I say? It's
vindictive... it would not take them anywhere," Dikshit told IANS,
adding that the BJP, however, would not order any probe against the
party's own corrupt leaders.
Udit Raj, the BJP Lok Sabha member
from North West Delhi, told IANS: "Law would take its own course...
it's not about any particular person."
"There is nothing new to it. Our party had promised it (probe) even before the general elections last year," he said.
Brinda Karat of the CPI-M refused to comment, saying she knows nothing about the probe having been ordered.
Informed that the news was confirmed, she said: "I have no comment to make on the issue."
