By V.S. Karnic

Bangalore, July 14 (IANS) Bellary, Belekeri, the Reddy brothers, Lok Ayukta N. Santosh Hegde are on their way to becoming household names across India as the illegal iron ore mining issue in Karnataka threatens to explode in the face of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) first government in southern India.

Illegal mining has been on for years in the state and acquired a huge dimension early this decade as demand for steel went up across the world, particularly in China as it prepared to host the Olympic games.

Mining barons are prominent in three major political parties dominating the Karnataka scene now - the BJP, Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S). However, while the Congress and JD-S mine owners kept a low profile, BJP's barons have been in the news since 2006 for all the wrong reasons.

The BJP's mining magnates are the three Reddy brothers - Tourism Minister G. Janardhana Reddy, the most vocal of the siblings, his elder brother Revenue Minister G. Karunakara Reddy and the youngest G. Somashekara Reddy, an assembly member and president of the Karnataka Milk Federation.

The Reddys hail from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. They have made iron-ore rich Bellary, about 300 km from here but bordering Andhra Pradesh, their political base. They own the Obulapuram Mining Company which has most of mines in Andhra Pradesh and are facing grave charges of erasing boundary marks between the two states for their alleged illegal mining.

Janardhana Reddy almost unseated BJP's first Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa last year through a rebellion but agreed to let him stay after a compromise brokered by their 'thayi' (mother), as they call senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj.

Bellary is one of the most backward districts in the state. This has been the refrain of all governments that have ruled Karnakata since independence.

A posting to Bellary is still considered a punishment, particularly by people in south Karnataka because of the intense heat, dust, perennial water shortage, lack of good schools and colleges.

However, Bellary district is rich in iron ore, manganese ore, asbestos, limestone, quartz, soap stone, granite and red ochre.

It hit the headlines across India in 1999 when Congress president Sonia Gandhi decided to contest from this party bastion. BJP fielded Sushma Swaraj making it a high-octane contest.

The Reddy brothers had joined the BJP just ahead of the 1999 Lok Sabha polls and worked for Sushma Swaraj. The rest is history.

Belekeri is a minor port in west coast Uttara Kannada district, about 500 km from Bangalore. While the Karwar port in the district was well known in the state, Belekeri is the talk of the state now as it is from here Karnataka Lok Ayukta (ombudsman) Hegde found that 500,000 tonnes of around 800,000 tonnes of illegally mined ore it had seized had been exported early this year using forged documents.

The illegal export and attempt by Ports Minister J. Krishna Palemar to have the deputy conservator of forests R. Gokul suspended led to the dramatic situation of Hegde, a retired Supreme Court, resigning June 23. His resignation stalled Gokul's suspension. The officer had seized the ore on the orders of Hegde.

Hegde, who withdrew his resignation after an appeal from BJP senior leader L.

K. Advani, has submitted a report on illegal mining in the state last year. He is unhappy that the government has not acted on it and illegal mining and export of iron continues.

While Hegde taking back his resignation gave some respite to the BJP government and Yeddyurappa, the matter went out of the control after an alleged threat by party legislators in the assembly Friday to bash up Congress and JD-S members if they visited Bellary.

On Monday, JD-S members came to the house wearing miners' helmets saying their life was not safe even in the assembly in view of the threat by BJP legislators from Bellary.

Along with a demand for action against the Bellary legislators, the two parties are demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into illegal mining and have continued their sit-in in the house through Monday night.

Yeddyurappa has outright rejected their demand and offered a probe by the Lok Ayukta.

Since 2003, over 30 million tonnes of illegally mined iorn ore have been exported from Belekeri and other ports in Karnataka as well as Andhra Pradesh, the chief minister told the assembly Friday.

The Congress has put the illegal export figure as a Rs.600 billion scam.