Meanwhile, a local farmers’ protection group has alleged that the land acquisition for the first township at Bidadi, around 39 km from Bangalore, will kill the livelihood of around 25,000 members of the farming community in the region.

“What is the point of creating a mini America here at the cost of the local farmers who know no other way of life?’’ H T Lingappa, president of the Sri Ranganatha Raitha Hitarakshana Sangha, a forum of farmers, said this week while threatening to launch protests against land acquisition for the project. He alleges that land being acquired includes traditional belts of coconut, mango, sugarcane and vegetables. BMRDA officials say no land loser will be forced to relocate beyond the township. They will be paid compensation at market rates and integrated into the mainstream of economic activities in the township.

The BMRDA-Bidadi township project is also being called a replica of the township project proposed in the same region by the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise under the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor project that has been opposed by Kumaraswamy and his father former prime minister H D Deve Gowda.

“The BMRDA township project applies the same principles as the NICE project. When one project is already approved, what is the need for another township in the same region,’’ asks the managing director of NICE Ashok Kheny.