'Santosh Hegde Responsible for Growing Corruption in State'
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Jul 17: In a new political development on Sunday July 17 Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde came under heavy fire from Congress leader, AICC general secretary and former MP from Karnataka B K Hariprasad.
Speaking to reporters, Harisprasad accused Santosh Hegde of taking the chief minister's side and hence encouraging courruption in Karnataka.
He was speaking in response to the reports of three top BJP leaders having approached the Lokayukta around six months ago to influence him to drop chief minister B S Yeddyurappa's name from the report on Illegal mining.
Incidentally, Santosh Hegde has admitted that three BJP leaders Dr V S Acharya (higher education minister), A G Kodgi (state finance commission chairman) and V Dhananjay Kumar (government's representative in Delhi) had approached him and sought the exclusion of the chief minister's name from his final report on illegal mining.
"Why is Santosh Hegde disclosing this matter now? Why did he not disclose it earlier? This clearly shows that Hegde is favouring BJP and encouraging corruption activities in Karnataka. He occupies a responsible position, he should not have done that. I urge Hegde to resign from his job immediately. Though he has a little more than a week before retirement, he must step down immediately," said Hariprasad.
On the other hand, state Congress chief Parameshwar has asked the CM to resign immediately. He also asked ministers Dr V S Acharya, A G Kodgi and Dhananjay Kumar to step down.
On Sunday, JD(S) leaders also met and announced that their party was ready for the state assembly elections. "Looking at the current political scenario, assembly elections are not far."
"We are meeting the governor soon and will update him about the current political scenario in the state. The chief minister has reached a new low by trying to influence Santosh Hegde to drop his name. All three people who went to meet Hegde must resign immediately," said Kumaraswamy, former CM and Karnataka chief of JD(S).
Former CM Bangarappa and party supremo H D Devegowda were also present.