Can’t comment on unreleased Lokayukta report: BJP
July 21st, 2011 - 5:49 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, July 21 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday refused to comment on the leaked report of Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde which indicts Chief Minister
B.S. Yeddyurappa and several party ministers in the state’s illegal mining business.
“The report has not come out, neither you nor I have seen it…it is difficult to react on it,” BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told reporters.
“If the story is right, it (report) will be submitted tomorrow. After reading the 8,000 page report, we will give a full reaction,” he said.
However, the BJP leader tried to put the Congress in the dock, citing the example of the Shunglu panel report on the Commonwealth Games scam.
“I am ready to discuss the reports which have already come. The report of Shunglu panel named Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, it has disappeared,” he said.
The BJP-led Karnataka government has been drawing flak after Hegde’s leaked report named Yeddyurappa in the multi-crore rupee scam. The chief minister’s sons and son-in-law are said to be involved as well.
Former chief minister and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy, Rajya Sabha Congress MP and miner Anil Lad and Karnataka ministers G. Janardhana Reddy and Karunakar Reddy have also been named in the report.
Besides the Reddy brothers, Tourism Minister G. Janardhana and Revenue Minister G. Karunakara, their associate, Health Minister B. Sreeramulu, is also said to be involved in illegal mining.
Asked about Hegde’s comments that his phones could have been tapped, Javadekar said: “Santosh Hegde is a (former) Supreme Court justice, if he thinks there is phone tapping, he should tell the government, it will be enquired into. We are not like the Congress government that we tap phones.”
Hegde Thursday said he had reason to believe that his phones had been tapped and this could have led to the report being leaked.
- Congress targets BJP over Karnataka mining scam - Jul 21, 2011
- Double blow for Yeddyurappa: Faces illegal mining charge, court case (Roundup) - Jul 21, 2011
- Yeddyurappa, others named in illegal mining report: Santosh Hegde - Jul 21, 2011
- Yeddyurappa says he won't quit, Gadkari to decide (Roundup) - Jul 25, 2011
- Congress guns for Yeddyurappa, BJP hits back - Jul 21, 2011
- More political instability in store for Karnataka (Lead, Karnataka Newsletter) - Jul 21, 2011
- Congress demands action on Lokayukta phone tap - Jul 24, 2011
- 25,228-page Lokayukta report names chief minister, predecessor - Jul 27, 2011
- Yeddyurappa charged with graft, stares at trial (Evening Lead) - Jul 27, 2011
- Karnataka speaker accepts Reddy supporter's resignation - Oct 14, 2011
- Police assure protection to Karnataka Lokayukta officials - Jul 23, 2011
- Tensions heighten ahead of illegal mining report - Jul 27, 2011
- BJP takes first step to discipline defiant Reddy brothers - Nov 25, 2011
- Hegde wants Yeddyurappa prosecuted for graft, BJP hit (Roundup) - Jul 27, 2011
- Karnataka to act against 600 officials over illegal mining - Oct 28, 2011
Tags: anil, associate health minister, bharatiya janata party, bjp leader, chief minister, commonwealth games, congress government, crore, flak, jd, kumaraswamy, lad, phone tapping, rajya sabha, revenue minister, rupee, santosh, spokesperson, supreme court justice, tourism minister