New Delhi, Jul 21 (IANS): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday refused to comment on the leaked report of Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde which indicts Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and several party ministers in the state's illegal mining business.
"The report has not come out, neither you nor I have seen it...it is difficult to react on it," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told reporters.
"If the story is right, it (report) will be submitted tomorrow. After reading the 8,000 page report, we will give a full reaction," he said.
However, the BJP leader tried to put the Congress in the dock, citing the example of the Shunglu panel report on the Commonwealth Games scam.
"I am ready to discuss the reports which have already come. The report of Shunglu panel named Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, it has disappeared," he said.
The BJP-led Karnataka government has been drawing flak after Hegde's leaked report named Yeddyurappa in the multi-crore rupee scam. The chief minister's sons and son-in-law are said to be involved as well.
Former chief minister and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy, Rajya Sabha Congress MP and miner Anil Lad and Karnataka ministers G. Janardhana Reddy and Karunakar Reddy have also been named in the report.
Besides the Reddy brothers, Tourism Minister G. Janardhana and Revenue Minister G. Karunakara, their associate, Health Minister B. Sreeramulu, is also said to be involved in illegal mining.
Asked about Hegde's comments that his phones could have been tapped, Javadekar said: "Santosh Hegde is a (former) Supreme Court justice, if he thinks there is phone tapping, he should tell the government, it will be enquired into. We are not like the Congress government that we tap phones."
Hegde Thursday said he had reason to believe that his phones had been tapped and this could have led to the report being leaked.