Nikhil Kumaraswamy ends padayatra after police block entry into Bengaluru; protest on August 18 announced

Janata Dal (Secular) Youth Wing president Nikhil Kumaraswamy, who was leading a padayatra from Bidadi to Bengaluru opposing the Bidadi Township project, concluded the yatra midway at Kaniminike on Monday after the police blocked its entry into Bengaluru. Condemning the obstacles posed to the yatra by the State government, Mr. Nikhil announced that the party would hold a rally at Freedom Park on August 18, led by former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda. The Bidadi Township project has emerged as a major political flashpoint between Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and the JD(S) in the Vokkaliga heartland.

Mr. Deve Gowda, who flagged off the padayatra on the second day, Monday, later condemned the police action and said the party’s struggle against the project would not stop. “The Chief Minister has said that the government will not force farmers to give up their lands. Then why stop the padayatra?” he asked, alleging that the Chief Minister was in a hurry to implement the project to fulfil promises made to the Congress high command.

Earlier in the day, as the padayatra crossed the Bengaluru-Mysuru National Highway toll plaza near Kaniminike and entered Bengaluru Urban district, the police blocked it. Mr. Nikhil Kumaraswamy and JD(S) workers strongly objected to the police action and raised slogans against the government. Following a heated exchange, Mr. Nikhil sat on the road in protest. As the situation threatened to escalate, he eventually announced that the padayatra would be called off, accusing the government of attempting to suppress the farmers’ agitation.

Mr. Nikhil hit back at Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar and alleged that the Bidadi township project was a “real estate project”, and the farmers couldn’t be bought with money. He was responding to Mr. Shivakumar’s recent statement that the compensation for one acre of land for the project could be as high as ₹3 crore. 

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Malur, Mr. Shivakumar said there were no farmers in the BJP-JD(S) padayatra and that the parties had gathered party workers from other constituencies.