Karnataka Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde on Friday said he had not named Union minister for external affairs S M Krishna in his second report on mining.
“I have not mentioned Krisna’s name, as reported by sections of the press. It was the creation of the media,” Hegde said.
After giving details of the raids conducted by Lokayukta police on several state government officials, Hegde told reporters his report on mining named only two former Karnataka chief ministers—N Dharam Singh and H D Kumaraswamy. S M Krishna was the chief minister of Karnataka from October 1999 to May 2004. Hegde said he would give his report to the state government on Monday, and not to the governor, H R Bharadwaj. “According to the rules, I am supposed to submit my report to the state government. If the governor desires to read the report and requests for it, a copy would be given to him,” Hegde said.
Hegde also denied media reports of his heading to Bihar as the Lokayukta. “The chief minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, has sought my help, along with help from the Bhushans, to prepare the draft of the Lokayukta Bill. I will be going there to help the government,” he said.
The Lokayukta police on Friday conducted raids on various officials, including the secretary of the public works department and seized properties worth Rs 10.12 crore disproportionate to their known sources of income.
Meanwhile, Karnataka governor H R Bhardwaj said he would go by the Lokayukta’s recommendations on illegal mining. Talking to reporters, he said he was the only constitutional authority to take action against chief minister B S Yeddyurappa.
When asked about possible action against the chief minister, Bhardwaj said he would not like to comment till the report was submitted. “The report has to be studied before taking any action,” Bhardwaj said, adding he would not take any decision in haste and act on it according to the Lokayukta Act.
