JD(S) demands Karnataka govt. drop Bidadi Township Project
The party hit back at the Chief Minister, who has been arguing that both the Bidadi Township Project and the NICE Road were initiated by JD(S) governments
Janata Dal (Secular) leader and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda urged the Karnataka government to abandon the Bidadi Township project, citing its detrimental impact on small farmers and dairy farmers. At a Freedom Park rally, Gowda emphasized that former justices Santosh Hegde and V. Gopala Gowda's public hearings had recommended scrapping the project.
However, the government remained unmoved. BJP leaders, who had criticized the JD(S) for announcing the padayatra independently, were absent from the event. Gowda and BJP Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, along with Youth Wing president Nikhil Kumaraswamy, retaliated against Congress and Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who had previously highlighted that both projects were started by JD(S) governments.
Gowda clarified that the Bidadi Township project had only been a proposal and was dropped by him in public. Kumaraswamy accused Shivakumar of reviving the project in 2023, while Shivakumar insisted it was the JD(S) that initiated it. Gowda pointed out that the MoU's terms were altered by successive governments, barring NICE from collecting tolls without constructing the Bengaluru-Mysuru Road and developing five townships.
Kumaraswamy challenged Shivakumar to debate the projects, suggesting an open discussion in Bidadi, which Shivakumar rejected.
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