Hegde Turns Down BJP Leaders' Request to Withdraw Resignation
Bangalore, Jul 2 (DC): In a vain bid to end the continuing standoff with the government and get Justice Santosh Hegde to withdraw his resignation as Lokayukta, the ruling BJP despatched its top brass to meet the judge on Friday.
Led by home minister Dr V.S. Acharya, law and parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Kumar, state BJP president K.S. Eshwarappa and advocate general Ashok Harnahalli, the delegation was led to believe they had succeeded. But only for a moment!
Said law minister Suresh Kumar: “First, he said he will not. Later, when we explained the government’s intention to seriously pursue the case of illegal export of iron ore, he assured us he would reconsider his decision.”
Sources privy to the conversation said that Justice Hegde had made “all the right noises,” giving the high level delegation the impression that he would reconsider his decision when in fact he had no intention of caving in to pressure.
Kumar said that Justice Hegde was assured the government would move strongly against illegal mining in the State and drew attention to chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa’s statement affirming government’s resolve to stop it by only allowing value-added exports of iron ore in its finished product, steel.
“After Justice Hegde said that he was happy that the Chief Minister had admitted to illegal mining and promised to take action, we though the time was ripe to meet him and to persuade him to withdraw his resignation,” Kumar said.
Asked whether the party central unit had given any direction to carry out this exercise, Kumar replied in the negative and explained how the idea came up. “Last evening, we senior leaders of the party and a few ministers met to discuss the preparation for the backward class convention scheduled for Sunday. In the meeting, the issue came up. We discussed Justice Hegde’s reaction to the CM’s statement. Then, the chief minister directed us to meet Justice Hegde and to persuade him,” Kumar said.
Justice Hegde’s resignation has dominated state politics since his announcement and a united opposition, the Congress and JD(S), repeatedly attacked the BJP government on the issue of the resignation. Governor, H.R. Bhardwaj too has said the government should make an attempt to persuade Hegde to withdraw his resignation.
Justice Santosh Hegde, meanwhile, told the media after his meeting with the BJP leaders that he would not withdraw his resignation.