MALUR: Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Monday said there are no farmers in the JDS padayatra against the Bidadi Township project, and the opposition party has brought party workers from other constituencies to conduct the march. The protest is solely to ensure the political future of Nikhil Kumaraswamy, he added.
They have the right to protest and demonstrate, the CM said, responding to a question on former prime minister HD Deve Gowda participating in the padayatra against the Bidadi project. “We are only continuing the project that they initiated. They had proposed compensation of Rs 25 lakh per acre. But we are giving farmers Rs 2.5 crore to Rs 3 crore,” he said.
Responding to Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s allegation that the NICE and Bidadi projects are similar, Shivakumar said it was JDS leaders who signed those projects. “Who created the NICE project? They did. But it turned out to be good. Bengaluru has survived today because that road was built. I am not saying what they did was wrong. But their own self-interest was involved in it. I will talk about all of that when the time comes,” he said.
CM DK Shivakumar said he discussed the portfolio allocation with the Congress high command in Delhi on Sunday evening and it will be resolved soon.