Karnataka Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde on Thursday said he had provided enough evidence on the involvement of Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and his cabinet colleagues on illegal mining in his second report, parts of which were leaked yesterday.
Reacting to media reports on contents of the leaked report, he said: “During a period of 14 months, between March 2009 and May 2010, the loss caused by them to the state exchequer is to the tune of Rs 1,800 crore. It’s voluminous evidence.”
“The chief minister is responsible for what’s happening in the mining area of Bellary. The minister in charge of the district is an owner of a mining company and a mafia-like situation is created, with every official being involved. They have created a new system by which they could literally bleed other mining companies,” he told a gathering of select mediapersons here.
The Lokayukta had given the first report on the scam in 2008.
Hegde said the leakage of the report on Wednesday would not have any impact, as it would not affect the validity of the report. The report would go to the government on Friday, he said.
On how the report got leaked, Hegde said, “My phone had been tapped for the last few months, both in my residence and office. I have some clues about how the phone was tapped. I will soon come out with proper evidence.”
He said his officials had found evidences of illegal mining against influential politicians and people. In view of this, “I am seeking protection for their service and safety,” he told reporters.
The leakage of the report to a section of the press has raised a political storm in the state. The opposition Congress has accused the BJP leadership of patronising illegal mining in Karnataka, and demanded immediate resignation of Yeddyurappa.
Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed questioned the “silence” of senior BJP leaders at the Centre over the ongoing “illegal mining” and alleged it was happening with their consent.
Without the consent of senior BJP leaders at the Centre, leaders from the state like Dhananjaya Kumar could not have requested the Lokayukta for deleting Yeddyurappa’s name from the report, he alleged.
The report has also sought an investigation into the role of former chief minister and JD (S) leader H D Kumaraswamy and Congress Rajya Sabha MP Anil Lad. State BJP president K S Eshwarappa refused to comment on the leakage of the report and said, “Unless the report is submitted to the government officially, I can’t comment on it.”
Officials in the chief minister’s office, however, said that there was no possibility of Yeddyurappa cutting short his trip to Mauritius, where he is holidaying with his family members, and returning to the city in view of the Lokayukta report indicting him. “There are no new points against the chief minister in the portion of the report that was leaked. There is no threat to the BJP government,” the sources said. C H Vijayshankar, minister for forests, said, “Let the report come officially. Leakage is something different. The Government has not received any report as such. So, I will not comment now.”
“After the report is submitted to the Government, the Cabinet has to examine it and take a decision. Then only law will take its course, enabling the Government to initiate action on the Lokayukta recommendations,” he said.
