BJP won't allow Congress to lease out prime BDA properties: R Ashoka

Taking serious note of the Bengaluru Development Authority’s (BDA’s) proposal to lease out six of its prime complexes for redevelopment, leader of the Opposition R Ashoka on Tuesday said that the BJP would not allow the state government to do so.

Ashoka told reporters that the cumulative value of these six public assets is more than Rs 3,000 crore and this deal could fetch more than Rs 200 crore in the form of kickbacks to those in power.

“This scheme clearly shows that the state coffers are depleting fast and the ruling Congress is looking for avenues to make more money, to fund Congress party’s elections in the country,” he said.

He said the previous BJP government had received the proposal when B S Yediyurappa was in power, but the BJP took a moral stand not to divest such prime properties.

“Though the Congress is saying these properties will be leased out, the very clause of handing over these properties for a 50-year lease agreement suggests that the government is selling these properties in the name of leasing them out, to make money for themselves,” Ashoka charged.

The DH had broken this story in its Monday edition, that the agreement will make the planning authority richer by Rs 40 crore annually. BDA commissioner N Jayaram had confirmed the development, saying the government consented to the proposal in September last year.

While six BDA complexes, including the ones in Koramangala, HSR Layout, RT Nagar and Sadashivanagar, are leased to Bengaluru-based M-FAR Developers, a consortium of Maverick Holdings and Embassy Group will redevelop the Indiranagar complex.