Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and Karnataka Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre dispute the status of 281 acres of land under HMT's control in Bengaluru.
Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel, H.D. Kumaraswamy, and Karnataka Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre have disagreed over the status of land under HMT's control in Bengaluru, with Kumaraswamy accusing the Congress government of pursuing "vendetta politics" against him. Khandre sought to reclaim the vacant portion of 281 acres out of the total 599 acres, while Kumaraswamy maintained that it was not forest land and the question of returning the land to the State government does not arise. Kumaraswamy claimed that the land was not sold by the PSU and accused the then Congress government under S.M. Krishna of selling 200 acres of land for pittance in the past. Khandre insisted that the reclaimed land would be turned into a lung space and asserted that under law there was no scope for denotification of forest land.