Thaindian News

Bangalore, Oct 15 (IANS) The Congress in Karnataka was jubilant Saturday following the arrest of former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa of the Bharatiya Janata Party in a corruption case but the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), the BJP’s erstwhile coalition partner, said there is nothing to celebrate.

D.V. Sadananda Gowda, who succeeded Yeddyurappa Aug 4, was confident that the former chief minister will emerge victorious from his legal battles.

“I am confident that he will win,” Gowda told reporters in Bangalore.

The state Congress leaders, who were holding a public meeting in Yeddyurappa’s political stronghold Shimoga, about 280 km from here, shook hands with one another as soon the news of Yeddyurappa’s imminent arrest reached them.

State Congress chief G. Parameshwara, Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah and others shook hands with one another as party workers shouted slogans against Yeddyurappa on hearing the news.

In sharp contrast, JD-S state president and former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said it was a sad development for the state.

“There is nothing to celebrate,” Kumaraswamy, who too is facing cases in the Lokayukta special court for corruption, told reporters in Bangalore.

Special court Judge N.K. Sudhindra Rao, who sent Yeddyurappa to jail, has granted anticipatory bail to Kumarawamy and his legislator wife Anita in the two corruption cases against them.

Former Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde, whose indictment of Yeddyurappa in the illegal mining scam led to his resignation July 31, said in Mangalore, about 350 km from here, that he would not consider the arrest as a victory for his fight against corruption.

“Only if my report (on illegal mining scam) is accepted, then it is my victory,” he said.

The Gowda government has sought clarifications on the report. Hegde has termed the government’s move as a “ruse” to reject the ombudsman’s report.