Kheny to contest Hassan, Bidar Lok Sabha seats

Karnataka Makkala Paksha MLA from Bidar South Ashok Kheny on Wednesday said he will contest the coming Lok Sabha elections from Bidar and Hassan, which is the political bastion of his bete noire and JD(S) chief H D Deve Gowda.

Speaking to reporters, he claimed he has the strong backing of people in both the constituencies. “People know that I can deliver things. Sitting members of Parliament in Bidar and Hassan, N Dharam Singh and Gowda, respectively, will lose even their deposits if they contest against him (Kheny), he added.

Gowda has been alleging that Kheny’s Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (Nice) has fraudulently taken excess land worth Rs 700 crore around Bangalore from the State government on the pretext of implementing the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project. He is also waging a legal battle against Nice.

‘Govt delaying BMIC project’

Earlier speaking on the motion of thanks on Governor H R Bhardwaj’s address to joint session in the Assembly, Kheny said the State government has not held a single meeting in the last eight months on implementing the BMIC project.

“The project has already suffered about 18 years’ delay. I want to assure you that I will complete the project in 18 months if the required land is handed over to Nice. How can anybody go wrong after winning 572 cases pertaining to the project in various courts? Am I bribing all the judges in India? It is ridiculous if anybody thinks so. Please take steps to expedite the project,” he said.

Work stopped

Kheny said work on the controversial BMIC project had come to a standstill due to non-availability of land. Of the total 20,193 acres required for the project, the government has handed over about 6,000 acres. Most of the land owners are eager to part with their land for the project. But the government is not ready to acquire them. Nice has so far invested about Rs 3,000 crore on the project, he said.

This apart, he alleged, the government had not nominated anybody as member from Bidar district to the newly formed Hyderabad-Karnataka Development Board, while there are seven members from the neighbouring Gulbarga district, including the father-son duo, whom he did not name.