New Delhi:
The resignation of Karnataka's Lokayukta, Justice Santosh Hegde, had caused ripples around the country with even the Home Minister asking him to reconsider. But Hegde said his mind is made up - despite Chidambaram's request.
"He just said you have been doing a good job - is there a need for you to quit? That is all he asked me. But this is step that I find very difficult to retrace," he said.
Hegde resigned on Wednesday citing the "callous attitude" of the BJP government in the state towards fighting corruption. (
Read: Karnataka's top crusader quits)
Even Governor of Karnataka, HR Bharadwaj, had tried to persuade him to stay on.
"He is my old friend so I told him we cannot permit you to resign. I requested him - you withdraw this. He did not yield to this," Bhardwaj said.
Members of the public and advocates also do not want to see the Lokayukta go. But absent from this chorus was the state government itself.
"It is left to the Lokayukta to take his own decision..." said Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa.
One of the Lokayukta's most hard hitting reports was on illegal mining in the state. Justice Santosh Hegde's resignation is being seen as an indictment of the state government's lack of will to fight corruption.
But the state government was in a celebratory mood. After all, they were marking two years of the first BJP government in south India. However, a shadow was cast across the event by a man who wasn't even there.