Bangalore:
Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa today challenged state Lokayukta Santosh Hegde's report by saying there was "not a shred of evidence in charges against me." Earlier this week, Justice Hegde had confirmed that his report on illegal mining in the state names Mr Yeddyurappa.
Speaking exclusively to NDTV, the Chief Minister said there was no question of him stepping down. "My party is behind me," he said. Reacting to the Lokayukta's claims that his report has been leaked after his phones were tapped by people "with vested interests," Mr Yeddyurappa said he was "disappointed" at Hedge's charge. He added that "Santosh Hegde shouldn't have spoken about his report till it is made public." He also said he wants Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene in the matter.
The new report on illegal mining concludes several years of investigation by Justice Santosh Hegde, who is the Lokayukta or ombudsman of Karnataka.
Mr Hegde finds that the Chief Minister's family has inappropriate links with mining firms. For one, a trust run by Mr Yeddyurappa's family in Shimoga received a Rs 10-crore donation from a mining firm. Also, the Chief Minister's son and son-in-law have sold land near the Bangalore airport to another mining company at 20 times the market price. Mr Hegde says these transactions seem to be some sort of "collateral."
Mr Hegde is to present his 5,000-page report in the next few days. However, most of the document's politically explosive contents have been made public. The Lokayukta claims that it has been leaked after his phones were tapped. He said "outside people" are to blame and that he is confident his phones had been tapped by people "with vested interests."
The 68-year-old Chief Minister of Karnataka is currently holidaying in Mauritius; he is scheduled to return on Monday amid a new round of corruption charges - new evidence of corruption and nepotism have also emerged from a deal that allegedly saw his family members receiving prime property near Bangalore at inexplicably low prices.
Handling the multiple charges of corruption against Mr Yeddyurappa has been a political conundrum for the BJP for some time now. Officially, the party has so far evaded questions on Yeddyurappa's fate, saying it will respond only after the Lokayukta report is made public. But there are now reports of a divide in the BJP national leadership over what should be done next. (
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Sources party vice-president and former in-charge for Karnataka, Shanta Kumar, has written to senior leader LK Advani and party president Nitin Gadkari asking them to remove Mr Yeddyurappa immediately as his continuance, he says, is tarnishing the party's image. Former party president Venkaiah Naidu, however, wants no decision to be taken in haste. He wants the party to wait for a probe report.
Mr Yeddyurappa, the first BJP Chief Minister in a southern state, has survived all attacks against him in the last three years. But BJP's big plans of taking on the UPA government on the issue of corruption in the forthcoming session of Parliament would certainly be dented if Yeddyurappa stays as Chief Minister.