Pawan Khera targets MP CM Mohan Yadav Over Ujjain Land Deals, Seeks SC Judge-Led Probe
SUNIL NEGI
New Delhi, 24 June 2026.
The Congress on Tuesday escalated its attack on Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav over alleged large-scale land purchases by his family in Ujjain, with party Media & Publicity Department chairman Pawan Khera addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here and demanding a judicial inquiry by a sitting Supreme Court judge.
Khera linked the controversy to the ongoing row over alleged irregularities in Ram Temple donations in Ayodhya, saying, “Ujjain and Ayodhya are not only connected to the faith of people in the country but also abroad. Looting money from these pilgrimage sites is akin to stabbing devotees in the back”.
Citing a report published in _The Indian Express_, Khera said that since Mohan Yadav became Chief Minister in December 2023, his family and associated real estate firms have acquired at least 137 plots measuring 168 acres in Ujjain for around ₹45 crore. Of this, 111 acres are located in areas marked for road projects and zones where the Ujjain Master Plan 2035 allows conversion of agricultural land for residential and commercial use.
The Congress leader alleged a direct conflict of interest, noting that Yadav earlier held the Education portfolio and headed the Tourism Corporation. “Files pass through your table. You can intervene in the master plan, and you have inside information,” Khera said, calling it “insider trading” in the language of the share market.
He added that before becoming CM, Yadav’s family already owned 108 plots measuring 179 acres, with 85 acres purchased between 2021 and 2023 when he was education minister. In 2025 alone, the family and their companies bought 62 plots spread over 92 acres in Ujjain, despite ongoing farmer protests over land pooling for Kumbh infrastructure.
Khera demanded that the state government publicly release the list of all land-use approvals given for projects where the CM’s family bought land and sought Yadav’s resignation on moral grounds. “Will you announce that a judicial inquiry into this land deal issue will be conducted by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court?” he asked.
MP Congress president Jitu Patwari, who was also present, termed the episode “loot of Mahakal land” and said, “Theft of donations in Ayodhya, robbery of land in Ujjain. Narendra Modi, who says ‘Na khaunga, Na khane dunga’, has given full licence to both”.
Responding to the allegations, BJP spokespersons called them “baseless” and said all dealings involving the Chief Minister and his family have been lawful. The party maintained that Yadav resigned as director of Siddhi Vinayak Devcon in 2017 and that land owned by extended relatives should not be linked to him.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh also alleged that the leak of land records was orchestrated due to internal BJP factionalism, writing on X that the “engine of loot” is running at full speed under the BJP’s “double engine” government.
The CM’s office has not responded to questions sent by _The Indian Express_. No official inquiry has been announced as of Tuesday evening.
