It’s dad’s land, won’t quit post: Dinesh Gundurao

Bengaluru: Charging that his detractors were trying to flog a dead horse, food and civil supplies minister Dinesh Gundurao, in a spot following allegation of encroachment of government land, ruled out his resignation on Saturday.

He said the land in question was inherited by his two brothers and himself from their late father and former CM R. Gundurao, so there was no question of encroachment.

In fact, he had clarified about this piece of land in the Legislative Assembly soon after JD (S) leader A.T. Ramaswamy, who conducted a survey of government land under encroachment, tabled an erroneous report in the legislature in 2006-07, he added.

Lambasting his detractors for demanding his resignation for allegedly encroaching on government land, food and civil supplies minister Dinesh Gundurao on Saturday threatened to file defamation suits against those trying to tarnish the image of his family and himself.

Requesting the state government to complete Podi settlement work in order to finalise the boundaries of property owned by individuals and the government, the minister told media persons here that his two brothers and himself inherited the plot in question after it was purchased by their late father and former chief minister R Gundu Rao in 1983.

The plot’s titles were changed in his and his brothers’ name in 1995. “So where is the question of encroachment (now)? Without carrying out the Podi work, already the state government has acquired 10.9 acre land from our property.

I am confident that the state government will soon take up the Podi work to settle the boundary dispute. If at all we had any intentions to encroach land we would not have handed over this piece of land to the government even before the boundaries were fixed,” he added.

In response to a question, Mr Dinesh Gundurao asserted that he had already explained his stand on this issue to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and KPCC president Dr G. Parameshwar.

Slamming both Janata Dal (S) leader A. T. Ramaswamy, who conducted a survey of government land under encroachment, and activist S.R. Hiremath, he charged that the controversy over encroachment of land was triggered by none other than Mr Ramaswamy when he tabled an erroneous report on land encroachment in the legislature in 2006-07.

“Then itself I made a detailed submission on this case in the legislature as well as outside the House. As far as Mr Hiremath is concerned, the less said about him, the better.

He has been out of work for some time. Therefore, he wants to return to limelight by making false accusations against me. I will not tolerate this, and will not hesitate to initiate legal proceedings against him,” he added.