The BJP and JD (S) leaders are opposing the Bidadi Township Project purely for political reasons, as they are unable to tolerate D.K. Shivakumar becoming Chief Minister, said H.C. Balakrishna, Magadi MLA.

Under way for long

“The land acquisition process was under way even when Siddaramaiah was Chief Minister and some farmers were opposing it. Why did H.D. Kumaraswamy and R. Ashoka not come forward to fight for these farmers at that time?” questioned the MLA, speaking to presspersons in Bidadi on Wednesday (June 17). 

Leaders from “our community” (referring to Vokkaliga) in other parties are unable to accept Mr. Shivakumar as Chief Minister, he alleged. “They expected the Congress to be destroyed by internal conflicts. They believed that Mr. Siddaramaiah would never relinquish power and that Mr. Shivakumar would never become Chief Minister. They are unable to digest the fact that Mr. Siddaramaiah handed over power,” he said.

Mr. Balakrishna stressed that the project was not initiated by Mr. Shivakumar but by Mr. Kumaraswamy in 2006. “After our government came to power, farmers submitted petitions demanding either the removal of the Red Zone classification or compensation. It was in response to those demands that this project was revived,” he said.

‘No longer agricultural’

Mr. Balakrishna claimed that most of the land in Bidadi is “no longer agricultural” but already been converted into real estate layouts. “Had Mr. Kumaraswamy not declared it a Red Zone, all of it would have fallen into the hands of the real estate mafia by now. Land conversion has not been possible because of the Red Zone classification, and these areas have remained agricultural land,” he said. 

In the past, local farmers had challenged similar statements by Mr. Balakrishna and invited him to their villages to engage in a debate.