Bengaluru: The Bidadi Township project, where a work-live-play space is set to come up, has set off a letter war among three major political parties amid attempts to claim cross-party support or appeals for course correction.While Karnataka chief minister DK Shivakumar has claimed PM Modi has appreciated his efforts, both BJP and JD(S) have written separate letters to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, urging him to ask the state govt to review the entire proposal.Last week, the state govt issued a final notification for land acquisition for the Bidadi project. Union minister HD Kumaraswamy Sunday sharpened his attack on the govt, saying the project is “benefiting land-grabbers and the real estate mafia”.Kumaraswamy said the agitation against the township would continue till farmers affected by the project get justice. Farmers in three villages are set to lose their land.Reacting to DKS’s claim on Modi support, Kumaraswamy said the comparison with Gujarat township projects was misplaced. “Modi developed townships on dry and barren land. The proposed township in Bidadi is being planned on fertile agricultural land. I don’t know whether Shivakumar has informed the PM about this reality,” he said.Kumaraswamy responded to Shivakumar’s assertion that the Bidadi Township was originally his idea. He, however, said the 2006 proposal has changed significantly in the past two decades. “It is not right to displace farmers merely to make money. It is not advisable to push ahead with a township project out of sheer stubbornness,” he said.BJP state president BY Vijayendra has written an open letter to Rahul Gandhi seeking his intervention, calling the project a conspiracy to seize fertile lands of farmers. He alleged that the decision will rob rural women workers of farm-based livelihoods.In a similar letter, JD(S) youth wing state president Nikhil Kumaraswamy has alleged land acquisition violates Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.Nikhil said JD(S) would hold a padayatra across 26 villages, identified for the township project, on June 21. He alleged the project would adversely affect 755 farming families across three villages through the acquisition of nearly 500 acres of land. According to him, 82% of the affected landowners are marginal and poor farmers, while many belong to Dalit and backward class communities.
