Bengaluru, July 16 -- Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel, H.D. Kumaraswamy, has launched a scathing attack on the Karnataka state government, alleging that the ongoing controversy surrounding HMT's land in Bengaluru is a politically motivated attempt to derail his efforts to revive the ailing public sector undertaking.

Dismissing claims that the site is forest land, the Union Minister asserted that the property legally belongs to HMT and accused state leaders of using the land dispute as a pretext to target him personally.

"Along with my officials, I visited the premises today. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, I contested from Mandya because of the insistence of the people there. After I was elected, Prime Minister Narendra M...