Gowda wants CAG to inquire into NICE expressway project

"It is a major fraud exceeding Rs 50,000 crore. Even the Union Government has extended certain concessions and exemptions to this project. Let the CAG look into it," Gowda said at a press conference here.

Welcoming the petition filed against the NICE project in which he also been named as one of the accused along with three former chief ministers, Gowda said he would appear before the court on the date set by it "if a notice is served."

"I also seek the court's guidance on what an elected representative should do, if some one is playing fraud on farmers and people of his constituency and robbing their lands," Gowda said.

Gowda again demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh order a CBI probe into the Bangalore-Mysore expressway project from signing of the MoU till date. The agreement was signed by Gowda when he was the Chief Minister of Karnataka.

Since then the project has undergone several changes and road alignments at least on three occasions, he charged.

NICE, which promised to invest Rs 1,500 crore on the project, has pledged the land it got on lease to a bank and secured loan against it, which, Gowda said, violates the agreement signed with the government.