Rohit Kumar
NEW DELHI, June 24: The BJP and the Congress have locked horns over alleged “land grabs” by the party’s influential leaders in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.
While the Congress based on a report in a section of the media accused the Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav of helping his close family members to grab lands in Ujjain that would come under the state government’s development plan later, the BJP while terming the allegation “baseless” launched a counter-attack on the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and his son Priyank Kharge, a minister in Karnataka, of grabbing five-acre land from Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) in the name. of a trust owned by the family.
The Congress allegations were based on a news report claiming that the MP chief minister’s family increased its land holding. Following this, the Congress demanded a judicial probe into the clear case of “conflict of interest.” A day later, the BJP held a press conference in Delhi where it alleged that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and his son Priyank Kharge grabbed land in Karnataka by misusing their “power and influence.”
The Congress allegation followed a newspaper report which stated that Mohan Yadav’s family and real estate firms had acquired at least 137 plots spanning 168 acres in Ujjain for Rs 45 crore in the two years since December 2023. The plots were allegedly concentrated in areas that benefited from road projects and land-use changes announced by the state government later.
The report also claimed that the land assets of Mohan Yadav and his family benefited by the infrastructure push, including road links and highways, which increased their value. Moreover, in several of the plots owned by the family, the land use was changed from agricultural to residential or commercial, making them lucrative for investment. Another party leader, Pawan Khera, alleged that the Yadav family members bought 111 of 168 acres in the area where the Ujjain Kumbh will be held in 2028.
Accusing the Chief Minister of “insider trading” as he had knowledge of the infrastructure projects planned in areas where land parcels were bought, the Congress has demanded a probe into the allegations. “The Chief Minister knew of the Ujjain master plan and government projects. He let his family grow its land bank. Why is this not being probed?” Congress Media Cell head Pawan Khera asked.
Congress general secretary KC Venugopal questioned why central investigative agencies had not acted against Mohan Yadav. “PM Modi, why have ED-CBI not knocked on the doors of MP CM Mohan Yadav? Is a 253-acre mega land scam not grounds enough to chase him and punish him for his crimes?” Venugopal asked.
Defending the chief minister, Madhya Pradesh BJP president Hemant Khandelwal termed the land scam allegations as “baseless,” saying that whenever the state has a Chief Minister from the backward class, the Congress attempted to weaken him.
“The Congress is targeting an OBC Chief Minister of the state. Whenever this state has had a Chief Minister from the OBC community, be it Uma Bharti, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, or Mohan Yadav, the Congress has attempted to weaken them by conspiring against them,” Khandelwal charged.
He pointed out that according to the nomination filed by Yadav in 2023, he owned 17 acres of land, which has remained unchanged as of 2026. Additionally, there has been no change in the 12.29 acres of land registered in the name of the CM’s wife, Seema Yadav, the BJP leader said.
He also mentioned that the 16 acres owned by the CM’s son, Vaibhav Yadav, before 2023, has not increased since he assumed office. “All of this land has been in his name since before the implementation of the Master Plan,” Khandelwal said. He also claimed that the 10-acre land purchased by Mohan Yadav’s daughter-in-law, Shalini Yadav, in 2025 was situated outside the ‘master plan area’ and did not fall within a developed or commercial zone.
Congress Madhya Pradesh President Jitu Patwari has termed the alleged land scam in Ujjain as “plunder of Mahakal’s land” and demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged that land-related allegations against Mohan Yadav were part of a BJP plot to discredit and replace three of its Chief Ministers, including those in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
“This is a BJP conspiracy to defame Mohan Yadav. If he is accused of land grab, then look at Uttar Pradesh, where the CM has grabbed hundreds of acres,” he alleged, adding that Mohan Yadav’s family was in the real estate business much before he became the Chief Minister and the BJP also knew it. “Now allegations are being made to remove him from the post of the Chief Minister.”
Leveling allegations against the Congress while defending Mr Yadav, the BJ spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari, in a press conference on Wednesday, alleged that Congress president has grabbed land through a trust, named Siddharth Vihar Trust. The BJP leader said Kharge, his son Priyank and other family members were part of the trust.
Bhandari alleged that Kharge and his family used the trust to grab land in different parts of Karnataka and engaged in “land loot.” He said the duo used their power and influenced in the Congress-ruled state to capture the land.
Bhandari claimed that the Siddhartha Vihar Trust got 5-acre land from the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) in 2024, during the continued tenure of the Congress party leading the state. He further said the land was given for research in aerospace and defence, adding that the value of the land is ₹100 crore.
“The first case of land grabbing I want to present to you is the Siddhartha Vihar Trust, which was granted by the KIADB in 2024, when the Congress government was in power in Karnataka. The stated purpose was Research and Development in Aerospace and Defence. The market rate for this five-acre plot is now ₹100 crore. This should have been given to an industrial or aerospace trust,” Bhandari alleged. He added that no research and development activities were undertaken on the land.
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