Daijiworld Media Network – Bangalore (SP)

Bangalore, Nov 23: On Sunday November 22, Chief Minister (CM), B S Yeddyurappa, was closeted with a few senior officials at the guest house of the forest department here. The meeting was confined only a few senior officials who handle sensitive illegal mining issue, it is learnt.

The CM is understood to have gone through important documents concerning the illegal mining activity in Bellary. He is under pressure from the opposition parties for ordering a Central Bureau of Investigation investigation into the illegal mining and for dropping of ministers connected with this activity. The Central Empowered Committee has already submitted a report to the Supreme Court, pointing out irregularities in mining in Bellary region, in connivance with Andhra Pradesh government.

Highly placed sources in the forest department said that the CM directly went to the guest house of the department in Malleshwaram here from his home, where the senior officials of the forests as well as mining and geology departments were summoned along with sensitive files. He held consultations with the officials for over two hours, it is learnt. He also had asked his police convoy and escort vehicles to ensure that his presence is not noticed by the public. He is learnt to have discussed the fall out of the Lokayukta Report, CEC Report, CBI inquiry ordered by Andhra Pradesh government, reports of the revenue and forest departments on illegal mining etc., and held consultations threadbare, about the way the opposition parties could be handled in the assembly, as they are sure to haul the government over the coal on this issue. At the same time, he would be under constant pressure from the mining barons to shot down the opposition demands in this matter.

It is said that the officials have told the CM that it would not be feasible to outrightly decline a probe by CBI, if the union government orders it. The CM, who is caught between the devil and the sea, is considering ways and means to ensure that he remains unscathed in all this melee.

In the meantime, MP and JDS supreme, Deve Gowda, has threatened to raise the topic of plundering of the mining wealth of the state, in the Lok Sabha. Speaking to reporters here on Sunday, he said he would not like to delve deep into the issue, as the Supreme Court is seized of the matter, but will rake up the issue and discuss it with all the seriousness it deserves, at the Lok Sabha session. “I will present certain important documents in my possession to the central government in an attempt to stop this loot,” he added.