Amid the ongoing political squabbles, no one remembers a promised expressway that would have made Bangaloreans' getaways to steeped-in-history north Karnataka easy not even the man who proposed it

Squabblingu00a0politicians have completely forgotten about a 600-km expressway they had promised to start building earlier this year.

Road visionary: Ashok Kheny, managing director of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises, proposed the Bangalore-Bidar expressway

Ashok Kheny, the road builder who proposed the project almost a year ago, can't even remember the name of the project.

The road was to connect Bangalore and Bidar, or the two most important cities of Karnataka, on its southern and northern tips. North Karnataka is steeped in history and attracts many visitors from Bangalore. "Who has the time to think about infrastructure development?" Kheny lamented. "With so much delay, even I have forgotten the name of the project now."

Mining lord G Janardhana Reddy is the infrastructure minister, but he is engaged in a running battle with
Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.

Kheny hoped the expressway would be done once the dust settled.

There is no highway to link Bidar or Gulbarga to Bangalore and Kheny, managing director of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE), wanted to build an expressway so that people from north Karnataka could access Bangalore easily and vice-versa.

NICE is building the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC), heading towards completion after hitting many roadblocks placed by JD(S) leader Deve Gowda.

CM Yeddyurappa had taken personal interest in the expressway to North Karnataka when the government considered the proposal in February.

Janardana Reddy, spearheading the rebellion against the chief minister, believes Kheny is close to Yeddyurappa.
"With so many issues to be settled between the Reddy brothers and Yeddyurappa, the infrastructure corridor will have to wait," said an official.

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