Former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda on Monday stepped up his attack on the Karnataka government over the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project (BMICP), calling the NICE project one of the biggest scams in the state and questioning the Cabinet’s decision to allot 1,453 sites to land losers.
Speaking to reporters at the JD(S) headquarters, J.P. Bhavan, in Bengaluru, Gowda said he had written an open letter to CM D.K. Shivakumar seeking clarification on whether the decision was in accordance with the project’s Framework Agreement (FWA) and earlier court orders. He said he would wait for the CM’s response before deciding on his next political move.
Gowda said the project was conceived during his tenure as Karnataka CM in 1996 to ease pressure on Bengaluru and Mysuru by developing five townships along a 111-km eight-lane expressway.
He alleged that although three bidders had initially shown interest, the project was subsequently handed over to Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise Limited (NICEL) after he moved to Delhi as prime minister, allegedly bypassing established procedures.
In his letter, Gowda referred to several court proceedings concerning the project. He said that the state government had told the Supreme Court in 2016 that the formation of sites on interchange land was contrary to the 1997 FWA, and could amount to contempt of court. He also pointed to the Supreme Court’s ruling that NICEL was strictly bound by the FWA, and that the formation of sites on interchange and road-infrastructure land was not supported by the agreement.
Gowda further cited the state government’s rejection of NICEL’s proposal in March 2023 to allot sites to land losers, saying the government had then maintained that sites could not be formed on land acquired for roads and road infrastructure. He also referred to a January 2026 Karnataka High Court ruling, which he said held that compensation could not be provided through sites formed at interchanges or on road land in violation of the agreement.
Questioning the latest decision, Gowda sought details of the 1,453 sites proposed across locations such as Madavara, Kodigehalli, Kengeri, Kommaghatta, Varahasandra, Sompur,a and Gangondanahalli. He asked when the sites were formed, and who approved their formation.
He also questioned the financial gains from the project, citing the High Court’s observations on NICEL’s land sales and joint development agreements and its direction for a forensic audit of the company’s accounts. The court had also questioned whether the project had served a public purpose, according to Gowda.
“One square foot of land here costs ₹10,000-15,000. Who is benefiting from this land price?” Gowda asked, adding that he had documents relating to land purchases by certain individuals, but would not disclose details at this stage.
His son and Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has accused Shivakumar of trying to take over the NICE project. Gowda defended his son, saying, “Kumaraswamy won’t say anything without documents.”
Gowda ended by asking whether the Cabinet’s decision was compatible with the Supreme Court’s judgments and the government’s own earlier stand, and whether the real beneficiaries of the allotment were the land losers or NICEL and its investors.
The former PM also said he would wait for the Chief Minister’s reply to his letter before taking the next political step in this issue.
More than two decades after the project was conceived, its relevance has also come under question.
Only a small stretch of the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor has been completed, while another six-lane, access-controlled highway is already operational between Bengaluru and Mysuru.
