Bidadi AI city row heats up again; Kumaraswamy, Shivakumar lock horns

When the township was first proposed, “there were no basic facilities or irrigation” in the villages marked for land acquisition, the former CM said. “It’s fertile land now. In such a land, the government has proposed an AI city, though they have not allocated a single penny in the budget,” he added.

Kumaraswamy drew a comparison to the penalty collected by the government for alleged land encroachment by Eagleton Golf Resort, where the Resort was asked to pay Rs 982 crore for encroaching 77 acres near Bidadi. “Congress government fixed the penalty of Rs 13 crore per acre then. Now, they are fixing around Rs 2 crore per acre as compensation for farmers,” he said, adding that he would not object if farmers get Rs 13 crore per acre.

Unhappy over the development rights offered by the government to farmers as part of compensation, he asked how long the farmers would have to wait for it to materialise. “We will not allow farmers’ lands to be looted,” he said.

Kumaraswamy had extended support to the protesters when they launched the agitation in September last year. He had addressed the protestors virtually from New Delhi then, and lashed out at Shivakumar for pushing for the project.

Speaking to reporters, Shivakumar said that he was ready for a debate with Kumaraswamy on the Bidadi township. He was responding to a challenge by the Union Minister. “I am ready whenever Kumaraswamy is ready for the debate. Let the media decide the dates,” he said at the sidelines of an event held at Kanakapura.

On Kumaraswamy’s statement that he won’t ‘allow Bidadi township’, the deputy CM accused him of doing politics. “It is not me who started this project. It was started by him. We are only continuing the project now,” he said.