Hitting out at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi over the land acquisition policy, Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday said lakhs of acres of land were acquired during the UPA regime without four-time compensation or any social impact study.
Naidu also said Congress vice-president’s certificate is not required for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity as “it is increasing day by day”.
“When you are in the power, you acquired lakhs of acres of land from farmers, without consent or four time compensation and social impact study,” Naidu said at the sidelines of a function. “Congress vice-president is saying he will not allow an inch of land of farmers to be acquired. I want to know what is the scale of your inch? You have already acquired lakhs of acres. We have given example of Haryana, Andhra. Now you are saying you will not allow land to be acquired,” he said. Describing the land acquisition issue as <g data-gr-id="18">classic</g> case of devil quoting the scriptures (<g data-gr-id="23">sau</g> <g data-gr-id="24">chuhe</g> <g data-gr-id="25">kha</g> <g data-gr-id="26">ke</g> <g data-gr-id="27">billi</g> haj ko <g data-gr-id="28">chali</g>), Naidu asked the Congress to stop misleading people.