Cong, JD-S MLAs to Continue 24-hour Assembly Sit-in - Session Adjourned
Bangalore, July 13 (IANS): Having spent the night in the Karnataka assembly, Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) legislators in the state were Tuesday set to camp out some more with leaders saying their 24-hour protest would continue until the ruling BJP agreed to a CBI probe into illegal mining in the state. IN the wake of protest, the assembly speaker K G Bopaiah has adjourned the Tuesday's session only to be continued on Wednesday July 14.
"We will continue the 24-hour dharna in the assembly till the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state agrees to our demand for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into rampant illegal mining of iron ore in the state," leader of opposition in the assembly and Congress leader Siddaramaiah told reporters Tuesday.
JD-S leader H.D. Revanna agreed and said his party's legislators would not leave till the demand was met.
Siddaramaiah also announced that Congress was planning a 300 km 'padyatra' (walk) from Bangalore to Bellary to take on BJP ministers and mining magnates, the Reddy brothers.
The planned 'padyatra' is to re-establish the Congress base in the iron-ore rich Bellary district, which has become a stronghold of Reddy brothers. Bellary was a Congress bastion till 2004 but now the Reddys' domination over the district is near total.
The Reddy brothers, Tourism Minister G. Janardhana Reddy, his elder brother and Revenue Minister G. Karunakara Reddy, and younger brother and assembly member G. Somashekara Reddy, are accused of large-scale illegal mining in Bellary as well as neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.
The brothers own the Obulapuram Mining Company.
B.S. Yeddyurappa, BJP's first chief minister in Karnataka, has rejected the call to request the central government to order a CBI probe into illegal mining. He has instead suggested a probe by Karnataka Lok Ayukta (ombudsman) N. Santosh Hegde.
"Let the Lok Ayukta probe illegal mining since 2003 (when Congress was in power) till now," he told the legislative council Monday.
Hegde, a retired Supreme Court judge, recently quit citing government indifference to fighting corruption and checking illegal mining. He withdrew the resignation on the request of senior BJP leader L.K. Advani.
Between 2003 and now, over 30 million tonnes of iron ore has been illegally mined and exported from Karnataka causing a huge revenue loss.
Congress and JD-S claim that the illegal mining scam is worth around Rs.60,000 crore (Rs.600 billion).
Bangalore: Ore Scam - Opposition Launches Indefinite Dharna
Daijiworld Media Network – Bangalore (SP)
Bangalore, Jul 13: Peeved over the stubborn stand of the government not to bend to the pressure brought in by it to order a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the multi-crore illegal iron ore mining and exports business that is thriving in the state, the entire opposition in the assembly launched an indefinite dharna in the state assembly on Monday July 12. The dharna continued without a break even during the night.
Speaker of the assembly, K G Bopaiah, adjourned the house twice on Monday in an effort to end the impasse between the government and the opposition on the issue. However, both the parties adamantly stuck to their respective stand,s thereby spurning the opportunity so extended to bury the hatchet. The dharna of the opposition continued till evening, after which the speaker adjourned the house to the next day. Even after that, the members of the opposition continued to sit in dharna, deciding to extend the protest dharna even during the night.
The assembly plunged into chaos when the opposition parties sprang to their legs to vehemently decry the manner in which the house was adjourned without providing them an opportunity to seek clarifications on the replies provided by the Chief Minister on the issue. The second meeting called between the dissenting parties by the assembly speaker in the afternoon continued for nearly two hours, failing to make any headway in the stand off. The opposition parties stuck to their demand for handing over the issue of illegal mining to CBI for investigation, and to initiate steps against three BJP legislators, who had misbehaved with the opposition members on Friday last.
The government agreed to constitute a house committee to look into the unsavoury incidents in the assembly, and to conduct the investigation into illegal mining through the Lokayukta instead of CBI. The afternoon session of the assembly met at 6 pm, two hours behind schedule.
Speaking on the occasion, Siddaramaiah estimated that the state’s assets to the extent of 15,000 to 20,000 crore were lost because of illegal mining. “The state’s mineral wealth continues to be looted without restraint even after Yeddyurappa came to power, as he himself had admitted in the past. Still, he is not amenable to order a CBI inquiry. This is the biggest scam of the century. The Lokayukta has said he has 40 gunny bags full of documents connected with this issue. As the issue extends beyond the borders of the state and the country, CBI inquiry can alone cover all the aspects of the scam,” he said. While saying that he will continue to remain in the house till the demand is met, he also demanded for registering criminal cases against the legislators who misbehaved in the assembly on Friday.
Congress legislator and deputy leader in the assembly, T B Jayachandra, felt that the legislators, who lost their tempers and behaved in a way unbecoming of MLAs, were encouraged to do so because of the support of the Chief Minister. Revanna of the JDS, who also had come with a helmet on his head like all other members of his party, and D K Shivakumar of the Congress, also demanded for the suspension of the legislators concerned and to order CBI inquiry into illegal mining.
Law minister, Suresh Kumar, tried to convince the opposition, by saying that the Chief Minister has already acceded to their demand for arming the Lokayukta with additional powers. While agreeing that the incidents of Friday were unbecoming of legislators, he asked everyone concerned to introspect on the issue. He said that it is left to the speaker to take action against the members concerned on the issue.
It will be interesting to see what happens when the house assembles again at 11 am today.