"Who was the minister who gave her land?": Congress' AS Ponnanna slams BJP amid row over gold smuggling case involving Ranya Rao

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], Match 10 (ANI): Congress MLA AS Ponnanna on Monday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the allegations levelled by the opposition party against ministers in the state government amid the row over a gold smuggling case involving actress Ranya Rao.
Raising the issue of land allotment by the previous BJP government to a company owned by the actress, Ponnanna asked Karnataka BJP president BY Vijayendra to clarify the name of the minister involved in allotting lands in her favour during Basavaraj Bommai's tenure as Chief Minister.
"Let him clarify about the minister involved in allotting lands in her favour since it has happened during Bommai's government. Who was the minister who has given her land?" Ponnanna asked while talking to reporters.
Asserting that the BJP was the "master" in levelling accusations, the Congress MLA said that Vijayendra must come up with names and must not defame people.
"To throw allegations is easy, and the BJP is a master in it. If Vijayendra says ministers are also involved, he must come up with names. He cannot make allegations and defame people," Ponnanna said.
He stated that the actress was the daughter of a senior police officer, and the industrial land was allotted to her in 2022 when the BJP was in power.
"She is the daughter of a senior police officer. Her allotment of the industrial land was in 2022, when the BJP was in government. If Vijayendra knows so much about it, he must also know which BJP leader helped her in getting that land," Ponnanna said.
His remarks come after Vijayendra on Monday said that Actress Ranya Rao's gold smuggling case is the rarest in the country's history, claiming that "the CBI is conducting a deep investigation into the fact that many more people are involved in the smuggling, and it is confident that the investigation will reach a logical conclusion."
"Ranya Rao is also the daughter of the highest police officer. Against this backdrop, the chief ministers insist on the reality of the case to the people. If the ministers are involved in the case, the information is already in the hands of the chief ministers," Vijayendra said.
Earlier, BJP leader Bharath Shetty said, "The smuggling case is a definite crime. During the crime, she tried to contact various congress ministers to get out. Now, it's almost in the public domain that two ministers are involved and tried to help her get out of the case. The CBI has taken hold of the case, and something solid will surely come out."
Shetty added, "Regarding the land allotted to the company, CBI is investigating the case, and that point will also be covered. There was no illegality in the land allotment; the entire allotment process was followed correctly. The Congress people are saying it's allotted faster, and that's the only problem; however, the CBI will know what happened after the investigation. The gold smuggling case is a crime, and the State government should have stayed away from that, but they didn't. If she gives a statement, then the ministers will get into trouble. This shows the law and order situation. The state has always concentrated on appeasement politics and never on law and order."
Ranya Rao was arrested on March 3 by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) at Kempegowda International Airport (KIAD) in Bengaluru for allegedly smuggling 14.8 kilograms of gold from Dubai. (ANI)