Bengaluru, Nov. 4 -- Deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar on Monday defended the proposed Bengaluru tunnel road project and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of playing politics over an initiative he said had received advice and support from Union minister for road, transport and highways Nitin Gadkari.

In a post on X, Shivakumar, who also holds the Bengaluru Development portfolio, wrote, "Bengaluru first, politics later! The Tunnel Road is not my personal project-it's a public initiative for Bengaluru's future," he wrote on X. "We had a meeting with Union Minister Shri Nitin Gadkari, who advised us and supported the Tunnel Project as a solution to our city's traffic woes," he added.

Taking aim at state BJP leaders for opposing th...