BJP alleges govt. allotting flats to illegal Bangladeshi immigrants; Cong. hits back

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which held a protest over the Kogilu issue on Monday, alleged that the Congress-led State government was providing housing for illegal immigrants from Bangladesh who had encroached government land in Kogilu.

“If even one house is given to Bangladeshi people at Kogilu, it will set a bad precedent. We will not allow the land belonging to Kannadigas to be given to Bangladeshis,” said R. Ashok, Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, speaking at the protest site.

Meanwhile, Minister for Housing B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan said, “A survey of those who lost their houses in Kogilu was complete, and it revealed most of them were locals.”

“Of the 167 houses demolished, only 13 families are from outside Karnataka- from Bihar, one family from Kerala, and a few from Tamil Nadu,” the Minister said. “There are 18 families from Karnataka, including from Yadgir, Kalaburagi, and Bidar. There are nearly 90 families who are voters of the Byatarayanapura Assembly constituency,” he said.

Mr. Ashok and BJP State president B.Y. Vijayendra also said that as per government records, 36 lakh poor people in the State had applied for houses and sites and were waiting for a house, even as the residents of Kogilu were being given unfair preference because of ‘minority appeasement’.

Mr. Vijayendra also alleged that it was local Congress leaders who had not only allowed the encroachments on government land, but got them water and power connections and were collecting ₹2 lakh to ₹3 lakh bribe from the residents every month.

Minister for Revenue Krishna Byre Gowda hit back saying most of the encroachments in question happened in 2021, when BJP was in power. “Does that mean BJP supported this encroachment? If we were supporting encroachers, why would we go for an encroachment clearance drive?,” he asked. “We had demolished 10 houses two months ago and asked others also to vacate the land. When they did not, houses were demolished as part of a routine government action. The Chief Minister has considered this on humanitarian grounds and has decided to provide them alternative housing and the Opposition was unnecessarily politicising it,” he said.

The BJP leaders tried to reach the Kogilu demolition site in buses to hold a protest on Monday, but were stopped by the police. The protest was eventually held in Bagalur. They condemned police action.