Union minister HD Kumaraswamy and Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka during the launch of the three-day padayatra at Byramangala in Bengaluru South district on Sunday. (Photo by special arrangement)The JD(S), with support from its coalition partner, the BJP, launched a padayatra on Sunday against the proposed Greater Bengaluru Integrated Township (GBIT) project, expected to come up in around 7,481 acres in nine villages near Bidadi.Speaking at the launch of the protest, Union minister H D Kumaraswamy raked up a 2006 fact-finding committee report prepared by the Congress opposing the Bidadi township project when it was first proposed. The committee included D K Shivakumar, who is now the chief minister, Kumaraswamy said, reading out from the report.“During the monsoon session of the legislature, everything will be brought to light by our party,” the JD(S) leader said. “People willing to give land are brokers who bought this land at Rs 5-10 lakh per acre. They are now willing to sell it to the government for a high price,” he alleged.Meanwhile, ahead of the launch of the Opposition’s march, Shivakumar released a video message saying that no farmers would be coerced into giving land for the project.Also Read | Villagers chase away Bidadi township survey officials with stones and broomsThe padayatra from Byramangala to Bengaluru came after the Congress government constituted a committee led by retired high court judge Justice Guhanathan Narendar to review the township project following opposition from landlosers and the two parties.Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka, representing the BJP at the march, said, “We will not allow the house to run until it is decided whether this land is of farmers or Shivakumar,” he said, announcing that the project would be scrapped if the BJP and the JD(S) came to power.In his social media video, Shivakumar said the project was getting a “new lease on life and is being developed into a state-of-the-art AI City featuring world-class roads, metro connectivity, a modern sports arena, parks, and well-equipped housing”.Story continues below this adPointing out that the government had enhanced compensation from Rs 25 lakh offered in the past to around Rs 3 crore per acre now, he said that land acquisition would be “entirely voluntary, with no coercion imposed on anyone unwilling to contribute land to the project”.