Karnataka 'Bidadi Township' Row Escalates: D K Shivakumar Invites H D Kumaraswamy For Meeting, HDK Demands Open Debate | Video

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar's big battle after taking over the coveted post -- `Bidadi Township'  is escalating day by day, with combined opposition JD(S) and BJP vigorously opposing the project, terming it to be a `real estate' project of the Chief Minister coterie.

Chief Minister D K Shivakumar has written a letter to the former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, who is in the forefront of opposing the project, inviting him and five of his supporters to come for a meeting at Vidhana Soudha on June 26 for a meeting over the issue.

Kumaraswamy has asked the Chief Minister to hold a public meeting in one of the villages, coming under the notified area for the Bidadi township on June 27, as he was preoccupied on June 26. Kumaraswamy has said that the farmers, who are opposing the land acquisition also should get a fair chance to air their grievances. 

Though the Bidadi township project was announced way back in 2006, when Kumaraswamy was the Chief Minister of Karnataka, it languished in the cold storage for two decades. It got momentum only after Shivakumar became the Chief Minister, as it belongs to his home district.

In 2006, Kumaraswamy announced the township project and declared over 7481 acres of land coming under the township areas as red zones. Kumaraswamy, was interested in the project since he has a farm between Bidadi and Channapattana and the district is his political home ground, though his father and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda belongs to Hassan district.

The villagers could not sell the property, as it was due for acquisition. However, the property value around the township area went up steeply. Though some investors came forward to buy land in the red zone itself, they did not offer to pay more than ₹ 30 lakh, as no one was sure when the project would resume.

After Kumaraswamy, B S Yeddyurappa, D V Sadananada Gowda, Jagadish Shettar, Siddaramaiah (twice), Basavaraj Bommai became Chief Ministers of the State. Even Kumaraswamy himself had a short stint between 2018-2019 as Chief Minister, but did not show interest in the project.

When Shivakumar decided to go ahead with the project, Kumaraswamy raised the first objection, calling it a 'real estate' project. The BJP also joined him in the protest and the JD(S) took `padayatra' in the villages coming under the project. However, the determined CM Shivakumar announced a compensation of ₹ 2.5 crore per acre to the farmers as compensation, which is the highest so far in any of the land acquisitions in the State.Till then, the farmers were divided on political party basis as supporters of JD(S) and supporters of the Congress. After hearing the new compensation, the number of farmers opposing the project is slowly coming down

But the political war is expected to escalate, as both Shivakumar and Kumaraswamy are fighting for control over formerly Ramanagar district, which is now called as Bengaluru South district.