Lokayukta seeks police protection for his officers.
The Opposition parties in Karnataka on Saturday held Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa responsible for the tapping of Lokayukta Santosh Hegde’s telephone and demanded the chief minister’s resignation.
Former chief minister and JD(S) state president, H D Kumaraswamy, demanded that Central government intervene in the matter and order a CBI inquiry into the alleged phone-tapping issue.
“Whenever I make a call to the Lokayukta office, I cannot hear the person from the other side talking, while he can hear me. It will be perfectly ok after I redial the number. This is an indication that the Lokayukta office phone number is being tapped,” he said, adding that this had been happening for the past over one year.
Kumaraswamy urged the Centre to order a thorough CBI investigation into the matter. He also charged the chief minister of misusing his office.
State Congress leaders staged a protest rally at Bangalore’s Freedom Park and demanded the chief minister own moral responsibility for the telephone tapping and resign immediately. Senior party leaders, including leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, Siddaramaiah, state party president G Parameshwar, D K Shivakumar, Salim Ahmed and Ugrappa, participated in the rally.
The Congress leaders blamed the chief minister for the leakage of the Lokayukta report on illegal mining. “When Lokayukta Hegde had maintained the confidentiality, how could the report be leaked without the involvement of the chief minister. This is disturbing,” Ugrappa said. The party leaders also warned of launching a statewide agitation if the chief minister did not resign.
Yeddyurappa owes explanation to the people of the state, Ugrappa said.
Meanwhile, the Lokayukta summoned the Bangalore city police commissioner, Jyotiprakash Mirji, and filed a formal complaint to probe the telephone tapping in his office, which had been happening for the past three months.
Hegde also sought police protection for five top officials in his office who were involved in investigating the illegal mining issue and helped him in preparing the report. However, he refused to take extra protection for himself.
