The Congress on Tuesday sought a judicial inquiry into the purchase of land in Ujjain by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav’s family and the real estate companies controlled by them, claiming it was a clear case of “conflict of interest”, and demanded his resignation.
A report in the Indian Express on Tuesday revealed that the Yadav family and their companies own 335 acres of land in and around Ujjain, of which around 168 acres were purchased in 2024-25. A large portion of these lands were brought close to highways and roads in Ujjain district, and their value was appreciated through the infrastructural efforts undertaken by his government. Yadav, a legislator from Ujjain South since 2013 and a long-time real estate developer, became chief minister in late 2023.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, in Madhya Pradesh, and referring to the newspaper report, Congress Committee leader Jitu Patwari and Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, Umang Sengar, said that the Prime Minister has turned Ujjain into a center for suspicious land deals.
The Prime Minister, his office and the party are yet to respond, but a senior BJP leader said Yadav had always been in the real estate business and the revelation appeared to be the work of rivals within the party.
Elaborating on the facts at the press conference, Patwari said: “The family and relatives of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav own 335 acres of land across 245 plots. 168 acres across 137 plots were purchased after he became the chief minister.”
“The land was purchased in the name of 11 relatives – nephew, sister, brother, sister-in-law and wife – mainly in Ujjain. The land was acquired under four real estate companies, in which the Prime Minister and his wife own majority shares. Close relatives of the family have major stakes in three other companies. Several road projects passed near these lands during the period when Mohan Yadav served as Higher Education Minister and later President,” Patwari said, after naming all the relatives. minister.”
Asking the Prime Minister, Patwari asked: “Is it true that after you became Prime Minister, your family and associated companies acquired 168 acres of land by purchasing 137 plots of land? Nearly 111 acres of land were purchased in areas affected by development projects – is this just a coincidence?” Sinjar asked: “Will the government announce a list of changes in land use for all projects in the areas where your family bought land? Will it announce a judicial investigation by a Supreme Court judge into this land deal case?”
Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said on social media platform
“Now, two investigations need to be conducted in this matter. One is on the land deal and the other is on who leaked these papers,” said Dr Anand Rai, the Vyapam scam whistleblower.
Curiously, even some of the BJP’s political rivals said the revelation might have been aimed at removing Yadav.
Akhilesh says BJP is looking to replace the 3 CM
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said: “He (Mohan Yadav) was in real estate earlier. Doesn’t the BJP know this? These allegations are being raised because the BJP is looking for a way to replace three chief ministers.”
Reacting to the allegations, Hemant Khandelwal, BJP state president, said: “All the allegations made by the Congress are completely baseless and create a situation to spread confusion. There is not a single thing true in them. The Prime Minister had declared 17 acres of land in his nomination for 2023, and he still has the same amount even today. His wife’s land of 12.9 acres has not changed either.”
This is not the first land-related controversy in Ujjain after Yadav took charge. In September 2025, protests broke out after the state government announced that it would acquire land measuring about 1,800 acres of farmland near the Shipra River in Ujjain to build permanent buildings for the Seemasta Kumbh in Ujjain in 2028.
The land pooling policy under which this acquisition was to take place had certainly been announced by the previous BJP government headed by Shivraj Singh Chouhan, but protests, especially by the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, a farmer organization affiliated with the RSS, gained momentum only in mid-2024. Yadav was eventually forced to scrap the policy.
