Bengaluru, 16 May

Former Prime Minister and JD(S) National President HD Deve Gowda on Saturday alleged that a powerful "land mafia" is actively operating in the State under political patronage, criticising the Bidadi Integrated Township project.

The former Prime Minister said that he has written to Congress top brass Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over the issue,  “but unfortunately, Siddaramaiah is unable to take steps because the other side is holding the powerful portfolio”.

“Having so much of a relationship with the people of that area, it pains me to see how the five corporations have been formed by the present government at the behest of the Congress," Deve Gowda said.

Without explicitly naming Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister DK Shivakumar, Deve Gowda targeted him over the restructuring of the regional development authorities. "I don't want to take his name. He is the Irrigation Minister. The five corporations are also under his control. This is how the land mafia is working.”

The project will cover about 7,481 acres across nine villages in Bengaluru South district and Ramanagara taluk.

Expressing concern over the state of governance and the unchecked real estate lobbies, Deve Gowda claimed that even Siddaramaiah is constrained by internal Cabinet dynamics.

The affected villages included Byramangala, Hosur and Kanchakarahalli in the Bidadi region of the erstwhile Ramanagara Assembly constituency.

Ramanagara was a JD(S) stronghold.

Earlier, Deve Gowda’s son, Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy, had called the Rs 18,133 crore project a “real estate scam” that was grabbing fertile agricultural land from farmers.

Shivakumar has rejected Kumaraswamy’s charges, claiming that the JD(S) second-in-command himself started the project.