Patel, speaking to newspersons, denied having received any letter dated June 25 from Tata group chairman Ratan Naval Tata saying that the consortium was no longer interested in the project.

The chief minister indicated that he may seek the intervention of prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in resolving the problem.

Senior Tata group officials in Mumbai, however, maintained that the consortium had taken a collective decision on the issue, and that they would stick by it.

"It is a decision of the consortium -- Tata Industries, Raytheon and Changi Airports Authority of Singapore -- and there is no question of rethinking on the project. We are out and no extent of persuasion can woo us back," a Tata official said on late Thursday evening.

Earlier inthe day, chief minister Patel, responding to The Financial Express report that the Tata-Raytheon combine had opted out of the Bangalore airport project, had said that the consortium was still pursuing the project, though they had expressed serious reservations over the bureaucratic and political delays.

"I have no knowledge of it (withdrawal)," he said and added that the letter mentioned the hurdles coming in the way of the project.

Patel said that he had assured a delegation from the Tatas recently that the government would stand by the consortium. "We will meet the prime minister and sort out the issue," he said. But his statements, it appears, have come a month too late.

Patel said that he may also speak to Ratan Tata to convince him not to abort the project. Tata officials, however, remained unconvinced and said: "The project is no longer viable."

"We have written two letters to the Karnataka government. The first one on June 15 in which we have expressed disappointment over the slow progress ofthe project and the slow pace of the decisions emanating from the civil aviation ministry," the official said. The official added: "On June 25 we made it clear to the Karnataka government that we are no longer interested in the project as there was a clear violation of the memorandum of understanding reached with the government."