Bengaluru steel flyover: MP demands Ayukta probe into kickbacks'

Bengaluru: Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP, on Friday met Lokayukta Justice P. Vishwanatha Shetty and urged him to initiate suo motu proceedings and investigate the alleged illegal gratification amounting to Rs 150 crore to several ministers and bureaucrats in the steel flyover project.

Mr Chandrasekhar said investigation should be carried out based on evidence. Former CM B.S. Yeddyurappa’s allegation that a diary exists, implicating Congress MLC K. Govindaraju, should be probed too. He urged the Lokayukta to examine the veracity of these claims in the interest of Bengalureans. He said, “I was the first to say in June 2016, after writing to the CM and the BDA Commissioner cautioning them about the non-transparent way they were pushing this project, that this was not a project for Bengaluru, but rather a contractor-driven project aimed with the sole purpose of ‘collecting’ money for the coming legislative elections. The steel flyover is nothing but a naked, brazen way of exploiting the city by a group of shameless politicians, who tried to con the city and its people into believing that this was in their interest.”