Thaindian News

New Delhi, July 25 (IANS) Hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress Monday alleged the party was not taking action against its chief minister in Karnataka, B.S. Yeddyurappa, as the “fruits of illegal mining in the state had reached the party’s top echelons”.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said the BJP leadership was too willing to abide by the dictats of the chief minister.

“Money talks and Yeddy (Yeddyurappa) walks…The question is not that Yeddyurappa is Kaveri of corruption. The question is why is he still occupying the post of chief minister. The reason that comes to mind is that when poisonous fruit of illegal mining was chopped in Karnataka, it was distributed equally at the top of BJP,” Tewari said.

The sharp attack by Congress came on a day the opposition party demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P. Chidambaram over allegations by former communications minister A. Raja that the transactions made in the allocation of 2G spectrum were known to the two Congress leaders.

Tewari alleged the weakness of the BJP leadership was not limited to Yeddyurappa but also to its leaders in states like Gujarat and Chhattisgarh.

“It goes via Raipur, Bangalore and Gandhinagar to Nagpur. Yeddyurappa is an important link in this. He is without fear,” Tewari said, adding that the regional satraps do not listen to the party president.

“When there is a direction from Bangalore that the party should jump in defence of Yeddyurappa, they don’t ask why but ask how many times (to jump),” Tewari said.

Tewari’s comments come in the wake of Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde indicting Yeddyurappa in the large-scale illegal mining in the state as he holds the mines portfolio.