Illegal land deals: Ayodhya mayor, BJP MLA in dock

Work going on at the Ram temple site, in Ayodhya on February 3. Pic/AFP

City mayor, a local BJP MLA and a former party legislator are among the 40 people whom the Ayodhya Development Authority has accused of illegally trading plots and building infrastructure on such land.

Taking a dig at the BJP on the issue, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav said the saffron party's "bhrashtachari" (corrupts) should at least spare Ayodhya.

Mayor Rishikesh Upadhyay and MLA Ved Prakash Gupta have, however, claimed innocence and alleged foul play in the list of alleged offenders released by the authority.

"The list of 40 people who illegally bought and sold land and got construction work done in the authority area was released on Saturday night," the authority's vice chairman Vishal Singh told PTI on Sunday.

He said action will be taken against all 40 people. SP chief Yadav in a tweet in Hindi said, "We have said it before and are repeating it again… The BJP's corrupt, at least spare Ayodhya."

Yadav also tagged a media report to back his allegation. His party demanded an investigation into the matter and action against the culprits.

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