BJP demands Bhupinder Singh Hooda's resignation

Stepping up its attack on the Congress over the "irregularities in land allocation" to a trust in Haryana, BJP Thursday demanded the resignation of state Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

"There are a lot of irregularities in allocation of five acres of prime land to the trust. It is high time Hooda must quit," BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said outside Parliament.

Haryana has leased five acres of land to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust in Gurgaon for construction of an eye care hospital.

The state government has defended the allocation saying the panchayat land has not been sold to the trust but given on lease for 33 years.

Countering the state government's claim, Prasad said, "If everything is clear then why did the government of Haryana tell the Punjab and Haryana High Court after seven days of hearing that they are going to review the matter."

He further said, "There are lot of suspicious circumstances surrounding it (allocation of land). The facts are coming out. The entire allocation of land is completely lacking in transparency."

When told that Congress has maintained that it is not commercial land but panchayat land and there is no acquisition of land as such, Prasad said, "Panchayat land is all the more serious. Panchayat land is meant for panchayat people. But here people of the same panchayat said they are forced by the Deputy Commissioner to part with the land."