Yeddy, Kumaraswamy Named in Lokayukta Mining Report
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Jul 20: Chief minister B S Yeddyurappa has been reportedly named in the mining report filed by Lokayukta Justice Santhosh Hegde, sources said on Wednesday July 20.
The report also states that Yeddyurappa's son's trust had benefitted from illegal mining.
The report, which is yet to be submitted formally, is likely to create another political storm in the state, with several important names cropping up.
The report has also named JD(S) state chief H D Kumaraswamy and several Congress leaders including Anil Lad.
BJP ministers like Somanna, Janardhan Reddy, Karunakar Reddy and Sriramalu have also been named, it is learnt.
Incidentally, for Somanna especially it came as a rude shock as he celebrated his 61st birthday on Wednesday.
Justice Hegde has recommended a probe against all those indicted in the report, including Yeddyurappa and Kumaraswamy.
Though the report has not been made formal yet, Justice Hegde admitted that the report was true and that it had got leaked in the media. He, however, ruled out any insider's hand in leaking the report.
The report is expected to be tabled in a week's time and may come as a huge setback for the ruling party. It is the second and final report on illegal mining in the state, comprising an exhaustive amount of facts and inputs from even the CBI and the income tax department. The first report on the matter was submitted in 2008.
The mining report comes amidst claims by Justice Hegde that some BJP ministers and leaders including Dr V S Acharya and Dhananjay Kumar had approached him with a request to exclude Yeddyurappa's name from the report. Though BJP denied it, Justice Hegde said that he stands by what he said. The party came under fire from opposition, especially JD(S) who demanded the BJP leaders' resignation on the basis of Justice Hegde's claim.
Meanwhile, Congress general secretary B K Hariprasad criticised Justice Hegde for allowing such a sensitive report to be leaked, as it may become an excuse for the state government to reject its findings, as it had done earlier in the case of Balasubramaniam panel report on the issue of land encroachments.