BENGALURU: Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda launched a sharp attack on the Karnataka government, saying he has been made a party to a writ petition filed in the Supreme Court in connection with the Bengaluru-Mysuru Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC/NICE) project.
Addressing the media at the JDS state office in Bengaluru, Gowda said the petition has named the State Government, a group of farmers and himself as respondents.
Defending the decisions taken during his tenure as CM, Gowda, a Rajya Sabha member, pointed out that the project had received the Finance Department’s approval at the time.
“When this agreement was signed, Siddaramaiah was the Finance Minister. He knows every detail of the MoU and the concurrence given,” he said.
Gowda said the project covered four districts, including Bengaluru, Mandya and Mysuru, and envisaged concrete roads and five townships.
Expressing anguish, he said that even at his age he is being forced to fight court battles and pay lawyers’ fees. He alleged that around Rs 55 lakh is being paid to legal consultants in the NICE matter, questioning the need for appointing an additional consultant despite the presence of the Advocate General and government legal officers.
“I still have the determination and strength to fight,” Gowda said, widening his criticism to what he described as poor governance.
He alleged that while lakhs of government posts remain vacant, more than 1 lakh workers are employed on contract. Referring to Victoria Hospital, he said the scale of contractual employment was there for all to see. He also took a swipe at the Chief Minister’s Office, noting that seven or eight individuals function with cabinet rank.
Gowda said blaming the Centre for every problem served no purpose. Recalling his own experience, he said even when Siddaramaiah was Finance Minister and Dr Manmohan Singh headed the Centre’s finance ministry, demands such as waiver of penal interest on farmers’ loans were not accepted.
He said JDS would hold regional conventions in Hassan and Bagalkot between January 23 and 25, ahead of the joint session of Parliament, to highlight what he termed the failures of the Congress State Government.
Responding to Congress criticism over the renaming of MGNREGA, Gowda said he knew well how much respect the Congress had actually shown to Mahatma Gandhi when it was in power, dismissing the protests as political posturing.