Gowda rues he let down farmers by signing Nice deal

Former prime minister and JD(S) president H D Deve Gowda on Sunday said that he would not stop his fight against the alleged irregularities in the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project, being executed by Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (Nice), till justice is rendered to the farmers who lost their land to the project.

Speaking at a State-level convention of the advocates’ unit of the party here, Gowda said he felt that he had let down the farmers by signing the BMIC deal (with the promoters when he was chief minister), but would now fight till justice is delivered.He alleged that the promoters had committed irregularities to the tune of Rs 35,000 crore by taking excess land from farmers and demanded that a CBI probe be ordered on how Nice had made a windfall by investing a paltry sum in the project.

Gowda said he felt guilty that the project had been finalised when he was chief minister. He said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah spoke about giving a clean and transparent administration, but was hesitating to order a high-level probe into the alleged irregularities in the project. 

“Siddaramaiah was minister in my Cabinet when the project was approved. He is aware how the promoters misused the conditions to serve their own interest. Now that he is at the helm of affairs, Siddaramaiah should take a pro-farmer decision and order the probe,” Gowda said.