Congress opposed to Chanakya University Bill, 2021, it won't benefit people, says Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], September 22 (ANI): The Congress is opposing Chanakya University Bill, 2021 and members of the Centre for Education and Social Studies, sponsoring body of the university, are all RSS members, said former Karnataka Chief Minister and Congress legislative party leader Siddaramaiah on Wednesday adding that the institution would not benefit the people at large.

Addressing a joint press conference with Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D K Shivakumar, the opposition leader expressed his anger at the decision of the government to transfer land at a cheap price.

He urged the Karnataka government to drop the decision to grant hundreds of acres of land at a cheaper price to the Centre for Education and Social Studies to establish Chanakya University.

Adding to that he also said that they will seek legal remedies against the decision.

Speaking further Siddaramaiah said all the members of the Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS) are from RSS, which promotes the idea of Manu. They want to re-establish the Varnashrama system in our society.

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 the land has been allocated to them, he said.

BJP government had called for a cabinet meeting on April 26 this year and had decided to hand over 116 acres in Haraluru to CESS. The notified land was acquired by Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) to establish Aerospace and Defence industries.

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

Congress expressed serious objection against the bill that the BJP government has hurriedly passed the Chanakya Varsity bill on voice note in yesterday's assembly session without giving an opportunity for debate, he added.

Even Karnataka Assembly Speaker, Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri was partial in his conduct while passing the Chanakya varsity bill. He never listened to our request to allow discussion about this issue. What was the need to pass the bill urgently? Was this related to a public emergency? Siddaramaiah asked.

This is a case of nepotism and Congress demands that the BJP government scrap the decision to hand over the land to CESS to start Chanakya University. (ANI)