The Karnataka BJP Thursday announced a ‘Save Lal Bagh, Protect Bengaluru’ campaign against the tunnel road project, saying that it would be detrimental to Lal Bagh, which is among the few large lung spaces in the city. This came even as Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar asked BJP leaders to forego cars and adopt public transport, and slammed BJP MP Tejasvi Surya – who has vociferously opposed the project – as ‘immature’ and ‘waste material’.
Addressing a news conference, Leader of Opposition R Ashok said that part of Lal Bagh will be affected if the project goes through. “All BJP legislators from Bengaluru will launch a campaign at Lal Bagh on Sunday, November 2, against the project,” he said. The objective of the Congress government was to spoil Bengaluru, Ashok said, alleging that the government was using six acres of Lal Bagh land for the project without the required clearances.
He suspected that the Congress government in the state was pushing for the project to make money and fund the Bihar elections scheduled in November.
Meanwhile, speaking at the sidelines of a conference, Shivakumar lashed out at Bengaluru South MP Surya for his continued opposition to the project. “The boy is immature. He does not have experience… He doesn’t know where the world is. Who is he to say a tunnel is not required?” the deputy CM asked, daring the BJP to pass a resolution in Parliament against constructing tunnel roads in the country.
Asking reporters to refrain from asking questions about Surya, Shivakumar said the MP “is a waste material according to me”. There were BJP leaders who understood the requirement of a tunnel road, he said, asking whether Surya’s suggestion of trams could be implemented in Bengaluru. The MP does not understand what the cost of compensation for land would be, he added.
