Bidadi Township: Tussle turns intense as HDK attacks CM over wealth, terms him ‘real estate baron’
The heat over the Bidadi Integrated Township project is turning into a flashpoint between Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, both of
The heat over the Bidadi Integrated Township project is turning into a flashpoint between Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, both of whom are vying for leadership among the Vokkaliga community. In a turn on Sunday, Mr. Kumaraswamy made sharp personal attacks on the Chief Minister, questioning the growth of his wealth over the past two and a half decades. Terming the Chief Minister a “real estate baron”, the Union Minister, in Mandya, questioned the growth of Mr. Shivakumar’s assets from a mere three acres of ancestral land in 1999 to ₹1,400 crore by 2018. “The Chief Minister owes an explanation to the people of Karnataka on his rapid accumulation of such large amounts of wealth. He should, in fact, conduct training sessions on how to accumulate such wealth so rapidly. It would greatly benefit the public,” he remarked sarcastically. Mr. Kumaraswamy alleged that the Chief Minister had himself joined hands with real estate mafia operators to run the racket. Recalling the now-scrapped Bengaluru Mysuru Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC), Mr. Kumaraswamy said the nature and scope of the project changed after the then Chief Minister H.D. Devegowda moved to Delhi as Prime Minister, and blamed Mr. Shivakumar, who was Chairman of the BMIC Authority, for the efforts subsequently made to grab land under the banner of BMIC.
Reacting to Mr. Shivakumar’s claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had appreciated the township project, Mr. Kumaraswamy said the industrial townships developed in Gujarat were built on dry and uncultivable land, while the Bidadi township is proposed on “fertile agricultural land wrested from farmers”. He asked Mr. Shivakumar to visit Gujarat and see for himself. Sharp counter Meanwhile, in a sharp counterattack, Magadi legislator H.C. Balakrishna, a confidant of Mr. Shivakumar, on Sunday told reporters in Bengaluru that efforts are being made to tarnish Mr. Shivakumar’s image out of vengeance by Vokkaliga community leaders — Leader of Opposition R. Ashok and Mr. Kumaraswamy. Stating that Mr. Shivakumar had already acknowledged his involvement in real estate, he said: “Anitha Kumaraswamy (wife of Kumaraswamy) has 60 acres in the notified land. Where did they get the money to buy it? Did they sell potatoes and buy this land? They should explain.” He also accused Mr. Kumaraswamy of having wished to pursue the project even during his second tenure in 2018. Balakrishna said: “If Mr. Kumaraswamy had the honesty, he could have withdrawn the notification and removed the red zone that froze all transactions.
The BriefWire