Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah urged the government of Karnataka to drop the decision to grant hundreds of acres of land at cheaper price to the Centre for Education and Social Studies to establish Chanakya University.

Siddaramaiah addressed a joint press conference with KPCC President D K Shivakumar and expressed his anger against the decision of the government of Karnataka to transfer land at a very cheap price. He has said that they will seek legal remedies against the decision.

"All the members of CESS are from RSS. This is an organisation that promotes the idea of Manu. They want to re-establish the Varnashrama system in our society", Mr. Siddaramaiah alleged. 

BJP government hurriedly passed the Chanakya Varsity bill on voice note in yesterday’s assembly without giving the opportunity to debate and discuss.

CESS does not have any prior experience in managing educational institutions and also does not have any infrastructure to start a university. The government should clarify on what criteria has the land been allocated to them.

BJP government had called for a cabinet meeting on 26/04/2021 and had decided to hand over 116 acres in Haraluru to CESS. The notified land was acquired by KIADB to establish Aerospace and Defence industries.

KIADB had acquired the land at the cost of Rs. 1.5 Cr per acre and gave compensation of Rs. 175 Cr to acquire 116 acres. The same land is now being given to CESS at just Rs 50 Cr. The current market price is Rs 300-400 Crore.

"State BJP government is gifting highly priced land to RSS agency at a cheaper price. It is unfortunate that the government has overlooked all regulations related to setting up of University and passed a Bill to favour RSS mouthpiece which does not have any experience of running an educational institution. This is a highly criminal and corrupt attempt by the BJP government", Mr. Siddaramaiah remarked. 

When the second wave of Covid was at its peak and the government is starved of funds, B.S. Yediyurappa government called for a cabinet and gifted highly priced land to CESS at a cheaper cost. 

Even Hon. Speaker was partial in his conduct while passing the Chanakya varsity bill. He disallowed the leaders of the opposition to discuss important issues surrounding the bill.

"The Speaker never listened to our request to allow discussion about this issue. What was the need to pass the bill urgently? Was this related to the public emergency?", he questioned. 

This is a case of nepotism and I demand BJP government to scarp the decision to hand over the land to CESS to start Chanakya University as CESS does not have any qualification or eligibility to start institution.