H D Deve Gowda
Credit: PTI Photo
Bengaluru: Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda on Wednesday said he had been made party in a writ petition in the Supreme Court regarding BMIC (NICE road) project.
He told a news conference, “Along with me, the government and a few farmers have been added. I don’t know what the government will do in this case”.
He expressed unhappiness for making him a party and said, “At this age, I have been forced to fight a case by paying to the advocate”.
On the pact between NICE (Nanda Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise) and the government, Gowda said Siddaramaiah was the finance minister when the agreement was signed between the government and NICE.
“When I was chief minister, Siddaramaiah was finance minister. The finance department had also given approval for the project. He is well aware about all details of the agreement,” he said.
He criticised the government for paying Rs 55 lakh for legal advice in NICE case.
“Despite having advocate general and other legal advisers, the government has appointed another legal adviser for the case,” he mentioned.
The former PM said he had written to the CM a year ago about the NICE case and he even got an endorsement to the letter. “As I was advised by legal experts not to speak about NICE project, I was silent all these days,” he said.
The case is slated for hearing in the Supreme Court on January 21.