Bidadi row: BJP leaders promise land-losing farmers to scrap township project when in power

Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. The BJP claims that data shows that milk worth ₹25 crore is being procured annually from the Bidadi area. | Photo Credit: File photo Heightening their resistance to the acquisition of farm lands for the proposed Bidadi Integrated Township project, leaders of the opposition BJP on Wednesday visited the affected villages to express solidarity with farmers who are set to lose their lands and announce that the BJP-JD(S) coalition will scrap the project if it comes to power in 2028. Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashok, who was part of the delegation with Leader of the Opposition in the Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, BJP State president B.Y. Vijayendra and senior legislators S. Suresh Kumar and C.N. Ashwath Narayan, told mediapersons after meeting Bidadi farmers that there was no point in Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar continuing with “forced” land acquisition. “It is for sure that Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar cannot implement this project as he just has one and a half years left in his term,” Mr. Ashok maintained. Accusing the Congress government of wrongly claiming that the lands being acquired were barren, he said all the land parcels in Bidadi were fertile. Mr. Ashok, who visited a primary co-operative milk collection centre in Bidadi, said the data showed that milk worth ₹25 crore is being procured annually from the area. Similarly, the sericultural sector in the area was earning a revenue of ₹35 crore a year. Seeking to debunk the argument that farmers could rebuild their lives with the compensation, Mr. Ashok cited the example of his own family, “My family was given a compensation of ₹65,000 for 65 acres that was acquired long ago in Jalahalli of Bengaluru. But not even a single paisa from this compensation is left with us.” He accused Congress's top leader, Rahul Gandhi, of practising double standards by remarking that Mr. Gandhi, who had visited the Andaman-Nicobar Islands to express concern over environmental destruction over the port project, was now sil