India, July 17 -- India on Friday hit back on a former Japanese minister's statement blaming New Delhi for delays in the high-speed bullet train project, calling it "an individual opinion" at "considerable variance with facts".

Hideki Makihara, who is Japan's former Justice Minister and a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, had blamed India for delays in the Indo-Japanese Shinkansen project.

"The Shinkansen project in India is something I was involved with myself, but what stood out in international meetings and negotiations was the sheer recklessness of the Indian side, repeated over and over. They just don't keep promises, no matter what. Even if they make a promise, they flip it right away," he wrote.

Makihara also blamed...