Mangaluru : Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will convene a meeting on Yettinahole project in Bengaluru, within this week, to discuss about the public opinion on the project, said District in-charge and Forest Minister B Ramanath Rai.

Speaking to mediapersons here on Wednesday, he said that the Yettinahole project was passed by the previous BJP government and the present government was only implementing it. The project was recommended by the then ministers late V S Acharya and D V Sadananda Gowda and there was no opposition then, he said. He ruled out any kind of misappropriations in the project.

When asked about the affidavit of the State government submitted before the National Green Tribunal, he said it was beyond his jurisdiction to comment on the same. Replying to a question, Rai said that 13.92 hectares of land would be cleared by the government for the project, out of which only one hectare of land comprised reserve forest and the rest was deemed forest land. He told media persons to ask questions regarding the Yettinahole project to the irrigation minister.

Minister for Youth Empowerment, Sports and Fisheries K Abhayachandra Jain and MUDA president Ibrahim Kodijal were present among others.

An FIR should be filed against those who prepared the detailed project report (DPR) of the Yettinahole project as they already knew that 24 TMC water was not available in the Yettinahole basin, said former union minister Janardhan Poojary.

Briefing media persons here on Wednesday, he said that it was during the tenure of former chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda that the DPR was prepared. The BJP leaders have been pressurising the chief minister not to drop the project. “The project is an attempt to loot people’s money. As only 0.85 TMC feet water can be supplied to the parched and arid districts of Tumkur, Chikkaballapur and Kolar. Is Rs 13,000 crore required to supply water?” he asked.

“Health and Family Welfare Minister U T Khader should stop misleading the people of Kolar. There is no need for the ministers from coastal districts to tender resignation. Instead by being part of the Cabinet they can oppose Yettinahole project and stop the project from being implemented,” he added.

The project will destroy the environment and ecology of the Western Ghats and will also increase salinity in water.

On the stamps’ issue, he said that the Modi government was engaged in hate politics. “I have been flaying the working style of Modi from the beginning. I am loyal to the Congress. Even my father was an active Congress member. I will not leave the Congress party till my death. I will not jump from one party to another like BJP leaders.”

Reacting to the offer made by former MLC Monappa Bhandary who had invited him to join the BJP, he said “by inviting me to the BJP, they have stooped to a new low-level. It was the Congress volunteers who have sacrificed their lives during the freedom movement. I have been influenced by Indira Gandhi, Rajeev Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi during my political career. I will remain with the Congress in the future as well.”