BMIC issue: Kumaraswamy to seek judicial inquiry

Bangalore, Jun 15 (UNI) Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy today said he will seek a judicial inquiry by a sitting High Court judge into the charges levelled against him by the opposition in the controversial Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor project issue.

Participating in an interactive session with Kannada intellectuals writers and artists at a function here, he said he would write a letter to Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Cyriac Joseph seeking to conduct an inquiry by appointing a sitting High Court judge to clear all confusions and allegations made against him on the issue.

Mr Kumaraswamy's statement comes in the wake of the opposition Congress trying to oust him from power following media reports that he owned 46 acres in and around the BMIC project area and that he had provided false information in the affidavit filed along with his nomination papers for 2004 assembly elections that he owned only 24 acres.

On his statement of stepping down from office, if he failed to protect the interests of state and the farmers in the issue, he said ''I will do so only after fighting it out and not run away from the battle like a coward. I will fight against the deal signed with BMIC project promoters Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) as it is detrimental to the interests of both the state and the farmers.'' Mr Kumaraswamy exuded confidence that both the JD (S) and BJP legislators supporting him would endorse his view on the multicrore project.

He said ''NICE is no better than the erstwhile East India Company which not only looted the country, but also made Indians slaves of colonial power.'' Asked about the Congress filing a petition to the Election Commission seeking his disqualification for filing a false affidavit along with his nomination papers for 2004 assembly elections, he said ''It is good because the truth will come out.'' The Congress was behaving in such an irresponsible manner because it was unable to sit in the opposition after relishing power in the state for four decades, he charged.

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