Karnataka CM Defends Bidadi Project Amid Opposition Protests

BENGALURU: On the Opposition’s proposed padayatra against the Bidadi project, Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said here on Monday that he won’t react to every remark made by political opponents. “In Maharashtra, a township is being developed on 90,000 acres and in Telangana on 40,000 acres. The Bidadi project is not my project. It was HD Kumaraswamy who issued the notification during his tenure as chief minister. When the previous BJP government acquired 1,000 acres of land and handed it over to KIADB, why did these leaders remain silent,” he asked. He also pointed out that land acquisition had taken place for the Harohalli Industrial Area as well. “Were farmers not displaced then,” he asked. He maintained that farmers are coming forward to part with their land for the Bidadi project. “But some people want to play politics over the issue,” he added. ENS