The tussle between Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy over the Bidadi Township Project has reached a new point of confrontation, with the two leaders inviting each other for an open debate at different venues and timings.

In a letter, the Chief Minister invited Mr. Kumaraswamy to Vidhana Soudha for a discussion on June 26, stressing that the project was planned by the latter. “With respect to the Bidadi Township Project started by you, I am excited to discuss the matter with you. I am inviting you, along with five of your representatives, for a discussion on June 26 at 11 a.m. in my office,” Mr. Shivakumar said in the letter.

Mr. Kumaraswamy wrote back to the Chief Minister saying that he is occupied with pre-planned programmes on June 26, and requested that the meeting be postponed by a day to June 27. However, he expressed dissatisfaction with the proposed venue and said that Mr. Shivakumar should consider hosting the meeting either in Bidadi or Bairamangala.

Mr. Kumaraswamy cited that Vidhana Soudha cannot accommodate a large number of people and that holding the meeting in either of the places proposed by him would create an opportunity for the aggrieved farmers and stakeholders to share their views and discuss the matter to take it to a logical conclusion.

The exchange of letters comes after the two leaders, both having connections with Bidadi, challenged each other to an open discussion, a process that has been going back and forth over the past month.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Kumaraswamy addressed a press conference and recalled the statements made by Congress leaders in 2007, opposing it, when the Bidadi Township was discussed in the Assembly. He pointed to a contradictory stand that Mr. Shivakumar was taking at present.

This comes as a rebuttal to Mr. Shivakumar’s repeated statements that the Bidadi Township was planned by Mr. Kumaraswamy himself, who is now opposing it.