Energy Minister D K Shivakumar said he alone was not responsible for giving permission to the NICE project. Then industries minister R V Deshpande and former public works minister Dharam Singh had made a series of recommendations to give permission for the project, he added.
The minister, reacting to the report which indirectly said that the controversial project was cleared during his tenure as urban development minister, said he was ready to face any action.
“There are sustained efforts to tarnish my image. I have the capacity to face it. I have not come to Bengaluru for nothing. I am here to do politics,” he said, while interacting with reporters.
The original agreement was first approved by H D Deve Gowda. Even the Centre had given a No Objection Certificate. “With an ambition of providing a good road to the old Mysore area, the road project was approved. I gave consent as minister and not as an officer.”
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