The Bidadi project provides a platform for the leaders of Vokkaliga

Both Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy hail from Bengaluru South district, of which Bidadi is a part.

The political battle over the Vokkaliga turf intensified and the Bidadi township project emerged as a flashpoint. While the initial opposition to the project began due to farmers’ interests, it has now emerged as the basis for one promotion among land-owning caste leaders in the Old Mysore region.

Though it was widely expected to become a hot topic soon after Chief Minister DK Shivakumar took the top post in the State Congress, his political rival and Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy upped the ante and in short order attracted wider attention within the farming community in south Karnataka. Both the leaders hail from Bengaluru South district of which Bidadi is a part.

The political narrative has become more complicated with personal allegations surrounding Mr. Shivakumar’s amassing of wealth over the past two decades. Against this, a poster campaign against Mr. Kumaraswamy and his family that appeared in the project notified area was suppressed.

The Congress is also portraying Mr. Kumaraswamy’s actions as “jealousy vacillating” with his fellow Vokkaliga unable to bear the rise of another leader from the community. Mr. Kumaraswamy on Sunday countered this by asking whether a leader should be allowed to “loot” simply because he is a Vokkaliga.

Incidentally, the project was conceived and announced by Mr. Kumaraswamy during his first term in 2006-07, a fact that the Congress is now highlighting. Mr Shivakumar has repeatedly said he is not ready to “reveal it now and go to jail”.

Mr. Kumaraswamy vehemently denied that it was a clash of Vokkaliga personalities, saying the opposition was only against the project. Party sources claimed that the “soul and identity” of the Vokkaliga community was its land and that the community had lost huge swaths as Bengaluru’s landscape grew rapidly over the past three decades.

“Our aim is to protect farmers from real estate interests. It is just a coincidence that about 80% of the farmers in the region are Vokkaligas,” the leader said. He also pointed out that the project was against the Congress during Mr. Kumaraswamy’s tenure.

Several senior Vokkaliga leaders across the political spectrum have also lent their voices to the ongoing farmers’ protest, which is now nearly 500 days old, with allegations and counter-allegations still mounting.

Magadha Congress legislator HC Balakrishna, in whose constituency the Bidadi project is coming up, publicly criticized Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka, who questioned the viability and need for the project.

The development also comes at a time when BJP Vokkaliga leaders are said to be feeling insecure about Mr. Kumaraswamy’s position in the alliance. Congress MLA N. Cheluvarayaswamy from Nagamangala, once a close confidant of Mr. Kumaraswamy, also criticized him, while another Vokkaliga leader and former Chief Minister of South Bengaluru (then Ramanagara) district CN Ashwathnarayan opposed the project.

“The two Congress legislators are speaking at the chief minister’s behest as both are eyeing cabinet berths. Only one of them is expected to get it,” a Congress leader said.

As farmers protest in Bidadi, KPCC president BK Hariprasad and home minister Priyank Kharge are among those Congress leaders who have hinted that the project could be scrapped if farmers refuse to part with their land. One leader noted that it also comes at a time when El Niño is expected to significantly affect agriculture in the state, and the prospect of land being “stolen” by the government does not bode well.

Battle of North Bengaluru

While Vokkaliga leaders from all three parties are tussling over Bidadi in Bengaluru South, another battle of Vokkaliga has emerged in Bengaluru North. BJP Yelahanka MLA SR Vishwanath and BJP Chickballapur MP K. Sudhakar are involved in a public spat. Sources said their rivalry has been going on for several years as Mr. Vishwanath had earlier sought a ticket for his son from Chickballapur.

Published – 28 Jun 2026 21:23 IST