"We are not aware of the reason. Directors of the company have the right to sell the company," Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani told reporters after the HLCC meeting.
Pressed further to reveal the reason cited by Reddy in the application seeking change of ownership, Nirani said: "You are asking the question to the wrong person. You should pose this question to Reddy…You (the media) know the reason better than anybody else."
In prenatal stage
The minister said the project was still in the prenatal stage. The Government had not allotted land to the company.
Hence, there was no major legal hurdle in changing the ownership. No change has been made in the project’s features, he added.
Reddy took everyone by surprise at the 2010 Global Investors' Meet (GIM) by signing a memorandum of understanding with the State government to set up a six-million-tonne a year capacity steel plant in Bellary district with an investment of Rs 36,000 crore.
Reddy’s wife Lakshmi Aruna and Reddy’s nephew, Kampli BJP MLA T H Suresh Babu, were the other directors of the company, which had sought about 4,000 acres land. The KIADB has already initiated the process to acquire land for the project in Bellary.
Sources said inability to raise the huge money to fund the project, and the spate of allegations of illegaal mining against him forced Reddy to sell the project.
