Congress demands inquiry into Reddys land deals

BANGALORE: Accusing the Bellary Reddy brothers— Janardhan and Karunakar — of acquiring a large farm land by violating the Land Reforms Act, the Congress have demanded the state government to order an inquiry into the issueAddressing newsmen here on Wednesday, Congress leaders V S Ugrappa and K C Kondaiah released documents containing the details of the land purportedly purchased by the Reddy brothers and their brotherin- arm Sreeramulu in Bellary district in the name of their kinThe leaders alleged that cast tracts of land were purchased by the Reddy brothers by abusing their positionThe two leaders demanded the state government to institute an inquiry committee on the matter under the chairmanship of a sitting High Court judgeComing down heavily on Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda for not initiating any action on the Lokayukta report on illegal mining in the state which has indicted many BJP leaders, including former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa and some of his Cabinet colleaguesUgrappa and Kondaiah asserted that the new CM was “acting only as a shadow of his predecessor”The party would launch agitations against the government if it tried to protect those who figured in the Lokayukta report on the illegal mining, they saidThe Congress leaders demanded that the assets of journalists, who had reportedly received kickbacks from illegal miners, be seized.