Bangalore/New Delhi, Dec 14 (IANS) Swaraj Kaushal, husband of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushma Swaraj who recently brokered peace between dissidents and the party’s first chief minister in Karnataka, has been appointed Karnataka government’s standing counsel.
The state government order appointing Kaushal, a former governor of Mizoram, was issued on Dec 5.

In the order, the address of Kaushal is 8, Safdarjung Lane, New Delhi, which is the residence of wife Sushma Swaraj as a Lok Sabha member.

Sushma Swaraj mediated a truce between Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and the financially powerful mining barons Reddy brothers, Tourism Minister G. Janardhana Reddy and Revenue Minister G. Karunakara Reddy.

The Reddy brothers, though hailing from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, have made Bellary, about 400 km from here, their home.

They became close to Sushma Swaraj when she took on Congress president Sonia Gandhi from Bellary in the 1999 Lok Sabha polls. The Reddy brothers joined BJP just ahead of the 1999 Lok Sabha polls and entered mining business only in 2002.

The Reddy brothers and their associate Health Minister B. Sriramulu, always address Sushma Swaraj as “our thayi” (our mother).

State Congress spokesperson V.S. Ugrappa had recently alleged that Sushma Swaraj and Yeddyurappa were financially benefiting from the Reddys.

His charge followed Yeddyurappa defending the Reddys saying there was no illegal mining in Karnataka.

Ugrappa’s startling claims came soon after the Central Bureau of Investigation began a probe into alleged illegal mining by the Reddys’ firm, Obulapuram Mining Company.

Most of the mines of the Reddys are in Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh, bordering Bellary.

The Reddys’ have got relief from Andhra Pradesh High Court which last week stayed Andhra government’s order to stop mining by OMC and five other mining companies.

Janardhana Reddy has termed the CBI probe as the “vindictive” policy of the Congress government in Andhra and the Congress-led UPA government at New Delhi.