The Opposition has trained its guns on the BJP over an alleged "253-acre mega land scam" in the pilgrim town of Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh.
On Tuesday, The Indian Express reported that since Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav first became a minister in 2021, his family has bought 253 acres around Ujjain, home to the Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga. These "plots are either close to new road projects announced in and around Ujjain, or in areas demarcated for change of land use from agriculture to residential or commercial", the report said.
The BJP or Yadav is yet to publicly respond to the allegations of conflict of interest and impropriety. However, an unnamed official quoted in the report said it was "not proper" to link the CM to land purchases by his kin who have "been in the real estate business for a while." Yadav has headed public institutions concerned with Ujjain’s development since 2004.
Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal posted on X: “PM Modi, why have ED-CBI not knocked on the doors of MP CM Mohan Yadav? Is a 253-acre mega land scam not grounds enough to chase him and punish him for his crimes?
“A regime that is hyperactive to misuse investigative agencies to hound Opposition leaders to settle political scores, or to coerce them into joining their alliance, is now in deep slumber while their own chosen lieutenants loot public wealth.
“Be it the Ujjain Land Scam, or the shocking loot of donation funds from the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, or the massive corruption done by Assam CM and his family — the list is endless.”
Earlier this month, crores of donations made to the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, set up by the Modi government to construct and manage the Ram temple in Ayodhya, were reported missing. The BJP government in Uttarakhand ordered action against several officials for a land scam in the temple town of Haridwar earlier this month.
AAP national spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj wrote on X: “After loot of Ram’s Ayodhya, here comes loot of Mahakaal’s Ujjain. Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav & his family members have been buying huge land parcels in & around Ujjain. They obviously have prior insider information about the advantage this land will get on the basis of govt decisions.”
Last month, several retired bureaucrats complained to chief minister Yadav after Dainik Bhaskar reported that serving IAS and IPS officers in the state had bought 2,000 hectares around the proposed Bhopal Western Bypass more than a year before the project was cleared.
In Bhopal, state Congress chief Jitu Patwari demanded a judicial probe. “Will the chief minister announce a judicial inquiry — conducted by a sitting Supreme Court judge — into all these land transactions to ensure impartiality?” he told reporters.
Patwari said "two busloads" of people from the village of chief minister's cousin Nilesh Yadav's had come to Bhopal in November 2025 to protest against an alleged land grab.
"The actual landowner (of a disputed property) was Madhavrao. Another young man —about 25 years old — was made to pose as Madhavrao. A voter ID was created for him, an Aadhaar card was made for him, and Nilesh Yadav got a sale deed executed by that imposter Madhavrao.
“This involved the entire village and about 50 bighas of land worth crores of rupees per bigha. His goons told them, 'Take the money and vacate the land.’ As soon as I tweeted at 12 noon that day, Nilesh Yadav ji — three or four hours later — immediately filed a case at a police station, claiming that Madhav was a fraudster who had executed a fake sale deed,” Patwari claimed.
Patwari said he even submitted a question on the matter in the Assembly. "Responding to it, the government and its administration said the chief minister had expressed an intent to investigate, but to this day, no details regarding the investigation have come to light or been shared with me,” he added.
Trinamool MP Kirti Azad posted on X: “Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, his wife Seema Yadav, son Vaibhav Yadav, daughter-in-law Shalini Yadav, elder brother Narayan Yadav, and the entire clan have created a massive land bank by buying cheap land…. People of such stature had pulled off a scam in land purchases in Ayodhya as well.”