The former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) president, H.D. Deve Gowda, on Saturday said he was ready for a public debate with Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and the BJP’s Karnataka president, D.V. Sadananda Gowda, on irregularities relating to the Bangalore-Mysore Expressway being implemented by the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises Limited (NICE). Mr. Deve Gowda told journalists that Mr. Yeddyurappa could choose a convenient venue for the debate. “Let the venue be Keshava Krupa [RSS headquarters in Bangalore] or the Mysore Palace premises, I am ready to participate in the public discussion,” he said.
Mr. Sadananda Gowda on Friday accused the former Prime Minister of “foul play” in the execution of the expressway project and demanded a public debate.
Mr. Deve Gowda said his struggle against NICE irregularities would continue. “There is no question of retracting from the struggle. It is not possible to donate land to NICE. It is not my ancestral land. It is the land belonging to farmers. I will not rest until I save the farmers’ land,” he said.
Mr. Gowda, who later joined farmers protesting against acquisition of land for the BMIC (Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor) project at Golipura, 25 km from here, alleged that NICE was illegally acquiring land over the framework agreement signed in 1997.
Referring to the township coming up at Golipura as part of the BMIC project, Mr. Gowda said the government was acquiring vast tracts of agricultural land and paying a paltry sum to the farmers, who would be evicted. He quoted a farmer to say that he was being paid a mere Rs. 86,000 an acre when the market rate was about Rs. 75 lakh.
He urged the government to immediately drop its proposal to lease government land at the rate of Rs. 10 an acre to NICE.
Mr. Gowda referred to the Film City coming up near Bidadi and wondered for whose benefit it was meant. Hundreds of people had gathered at Golipura for the protest.
The JD(S) president said he would continue his protests even if the government put him behind the bars.
