New Delhi: A day after a court pulled up the Haryana government for unlawfully allocating land in Gurgaon to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust, opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday asked the Congress if its stand on the case will be the same as that on Bhatta-Parsaul in Uttar Pradesh.
Talking to reporters, BJP leader Arun Jaitley said that land belonging to villagers was unlawfully taken away.
"It was a collective land of villagers which was acquired unlawfully and transferred by the collector to Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust," Jaitley said.
"They cannot have double standard on the issue of land acquisition. What holds good for Bhatta-Parsaul, also holds good for Haryana," he said.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday pulled up the Congress government in Haryana for flouting land laws in order to aid the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust in Gurgaon's Ulawas village.
According to the website of Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust, it was established in 2002 by Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra "to address areas of concern that were closest to Rajiv Gandhi's heart".
Jaitley, however, said he did not want to take any names in the case as of now.
"I will not take any names," he said, "but the government should answer who benefitted from this land acquisition... If some others have done it in the name of Gandhi family, they must also tell that."
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi has been holding an aggressive campaign in Uttar Pradesh against land acquisition. He recently held several rallies and also a march on the issue.
The Congress, however, said the issue was between the Haryana government and court.
"The matter is in court and it is between the Haryana government and the court. Whatever decision comes, the Haryana government should abide by it," Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmad told reporters.
He also said that the matter related to "several trusts" and the Congress did not back the state government.
"We never said decision (of Haryana government) is correct," he added.
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