Bengaluru, 26 Oct

BJP MP Tejasvi Surya is set to meet Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar over the Tunnel Road project on Tuesday. Surya hit back that Shivakumar’s comments on Saturday where he termed the Bengaluru South MP an “empty vessel” by saying that the City’s future cannot be shaped by political ego.

“Our opposition to the tunnel road is not just restricted to the damage it will cause to Lalbagh and Sankey Tank, but to the whole of the city. The project will worsen traffic in Bengaluru and not address the core issue, which is reducing private vehicles and increasing public transport,” Surya told reporters.

Surya said he intends to present alternative solutions to Shivakumar.

Surya added that the City need “bipartisan leadership”.

“Bengaluru will not benefit from an ego fight between DK Shivakumar and Tejasvi Surya. What Bengaluru needs today is a comprehensive urban mobility plan. We don’t have objections to the completion of pending flyovers in the City. Our objection is only to the tunnel road because it won’t solve the problem. It’s going to be a waste of public money,” he said.

Shivakumar, while confirming the meeting, said, "No one else but Tejasvi Surya is opposing tunnel road. He has sought a meeting with me. I have given him time for meeting. He is a public representative. Criticising is not important -- let him do that -- but at the same time he should come up with solutions as well.”

“No one can stop me. Only God can stop me,” he added.

Speaking about Bengaluru’s infrastructure projects, he said, "We have to expand the metro rail network. The Centre will give only 13 to 14 per cent of the total cost of the project. The rest everything will be borne by us. Yet we are doing it. We will do our job."

-Agencies