Friday, December 2 2005 15:04 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: The new chairman of the Bangalore International Airport Authority Limited (BIAL) in place of celebrated technocrat N R Narayana Murthy who quit the post amidst a controversy is expected to be decided in January.

Speaking to reporters, Finance and Industries Minister P G R Sindhia said he and Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel discussed the issue during their meeting at New Delhi yesterday (Dec 01, 2005) and the name would be decided in January.

"I did discuss some names", Sindhia said but declined to disclose them.

Murthy had resigned as BIAL chairman recently after coming under fire over his contribution as its head by former prime minister H D Devegowda whose JDS is sharing power with the Congress in Karnataka.

He said Murthy, who is the Infosys chief mentor has declined to reconsider his decision to quit.

Sindhia said the Centre and the Airports Authority of India were particular about the expansion of the terminal building at the new Bangalore international airport at Devanahalli, work on which was in progress, by clubbing phase one and phase two of the project.

On the much talked about Metro rail project for Bangalore, Sindhia reiterated that financial implications should be considered in depth, though the state cabinet had given in principle clearance to it about a year ago.

He said the Centre had also asked for certain clarifications. Sindhia maintained that there were no differences between him and Chief Minister N Dharam Singh or the coalition partners Congress and JDS on the need for the metro project.