People's Democracy

THE Bharatiya Janata Party has chosen as its president a gentleman who allegedly annexed 40.15 acres of land that was meant to be distributed to the landless poor and other weaker sections of society.

BJP president Venkaiah Naidu is believed to have appropriated dozens of acres of precious agricultural land in an obscure village in Nellore district. This land was earmarked for the landless poor way back in 1978 as part of the welfare policies of the then Congress government.

Mr Venkaiah Naidu on Friday denied he had grabbed land meant for the landless poor. "Though I am still to verify from the records, my memory reminds me that the government gave the title of the land around 1970 to those who were in cultivatory, possession since a long time," Mr Naidu said. Claiming that there was nothing wrong in the deal, Mr Naidu observed: "I am willing for any inquiry (sic) by any agency in spite of the fact that the said episode has taken place more than 30 years ago."

Mr Venkaiah Naidu got the land allotted during his stint as an MLA from Udayagiri constituency. The land was allegedly annexed by him in his own name, and in the names of his brother-in-law Alluru Bhaskaraiah, his father-in-law China Mastanaiah and others. Around 4.95 acres were allocated to him, under different survey numbers, all on the same day – November 20, 1978. These lands are situated in Mangalagunta hamlet of Kasumuru village in his native Nellore district’s Venkatachalam mandal. The D-Form pattas (issued by the government of Andhra Pradesh to the landless poor) were obtained in their respective names using his clout as a legislator. The rules of government stipulate that D-Form pattas are to be issued only to the really poor and downtrodden sections of society and must not be allotted to persons who own any piece of land in their own names. Mr Venkaiah Naidu, who boasts of his agricultural family background can, by no stretch of imagination, be called landless. Even assuming he was indeed landless, he, as an MLA, could not have been granted a patta under the landless poor category.

Allotments of this kind are made from government lands for specific purposes and for specified categories, like SCs and STs, political victims, displaced persons, disaster victims and the landless poor and are normally done in a single stretch of land only. No allotment can exceed five acres. But Mr Naidu and his family allegedly managed to circumvent that and therefore did not attract the provisions of the Agricultural Land Ceiling Act applicable to landlords. Mr Naidu took care to see that no individual holding exceeded three acres and that these lands were dispersed in small extents in different survey numbers. At first sight they look inconspicuous, but when one adds up the different pieces of land, which, according to the government revenue records, are owned either by him or a family member, the figure is 40.15 acres. Details of land under occupation by Mr Venakiah Naidu and his family in Kasumuru village of Venkatachalam mandal, Nellore district, were taken by 10/1 Adangal (Pahani) record of Kasumuru village as per the land records kept by the mandal revenue officer.

The land owned by Mr Venkaiah Naidu, his father-in-law and his brother-in-law add up to 20.52 acres, which itself is a large figure. If one takes into account the land assigned to and owned by other close relatives of his father-in-law, the total extent of land, works out to over 40 acres. Even though the survey numbers are different and the extent of individual holdings appear to be small, they in fact are continuous and form an impressive chunk of land estate.

Courtesy: The Asian Age, August 17