Mysuru: Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Friday lashed out at Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy for opposing the Bidadi township project after initiating it himself years ago.

“It was Kumaraswamy who initiated the township projects at seven places including Bidadi. How fair is it that his own family is opposing the project now,” he said, while speaking to reporters at Mysuru.

Asked about former prime minister H D Deve Gowda expressing opposition to the Bidadi township project, he said, “Deve Gowda is very senior, he must have forgotten. It was his son who issued notification for townships at Bidadi, Sathanur, Nandagudi. His government had also collected a fee of Rs 300 crore from DLF. The subsequent BJP government had refunded the fee to DLF citing non-feasibility of the project.”

“I am not willing to allow any denotification now. The moment you allow it, there will be allegations of corruption. I am already tired of running around courts and I don’t want any more of it. Deve Gowda did not seek denotification of the Bidadi township land when his son was the CM twice, why is he demanding it now? I have spoken to all the farmers and we will make Greater Bengaluru a model city in the country. We are preparing a plan to develop a city in 10,000 acres and it would be better than Chandigarh and New Delhi,” he said.

“Farmers are neither able to sell the land nor are they able to develop it. The farmers themselves have come forward seeking my help. We have given two choices to the farmers – either to receive developed land or compensation in lieu of the land lost for the township. There will always be opposition politically for anything that we do,” he added.

Asked if there would be support for the township when there was no support to rename Ramanagara, he said, “I know how to rename the district and it will be done. This is Bengaluru South and we are not demanding anything new. This is our right and we are seeking it.”

Asked if the Deve Gowda family was envious of DK Shivakumar, he said, “They have too much love for me! I would like to tell Deve Gowda with all humility that the Bidadi township was initiated by his own son and we are only taking it forward.”

“We have had discussions to revamp Dasara celebrations this year. Planning to drop some old things and add new things. We have decided to include Kambala in Dasara as it is a special practice from our Coastal region and we are trying to identify a location for this,” he added.

Asked about Centre admitting security lapses in J&K terror incident, he said, “Congress party would not like to criticise anyone in this matter. This is not a time for mud-slinging. Peace and stability are important now. The Centre has owed to eliminate the terrorists and we support the decision. There is nothing beyond it.”