Governor hint mounts heat on Yeddy

BS Yeddyurappa

Bangalore, July 22: Karnataka governor H.R. Bhardwaj today said he would certainly act on the Lokayukta’s report on illegal mining once he gets it, handing further bad news to chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa.

The governor can only recommend action and his advice is not binding, but any such move by Bhardwaj will compound the pressure on an embattled state government.

State Lokayukta Santosh Hegde, who had yesterday confirmed that his soon-to-be-released final report nails Yeddyurappa, today clarified that it does not name foreign minister S.M. Krishna.

“It’s wrong,” he said, referring to media reports that Krishna, a former Karnataka chief minister, was among those indicted in the scam.

Bhardwaj, who recently recommended President’s rule in the state citing lack of majority for the BJP government, is seen as an adversary of Yeddyurappa. He said his actions would depend on the contents of the report, expected to be released on Monday.

“I will give my serious thought to whatever he (Hegde) recommends, and you will know my action the moment I get the report,” Bhardwaj said.

The report will be sent to both Yeddyurappa and Bhardwaj since the chief minister is among those indicted, as specified by Sections 12 and 13 of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act, 1984.

Bhardwaj said he was the sole authority constitutionally empowered to act on the report, but did not mention that it’s the state government’s call whether to accept his recommendation.

Earlier, then governor Rameshwar Thakur had failed to prevent the government from sitting on the interim report, handed in by the Lokayukta in December 2008. That report had been sent only to Yeddyurappa.

When political pressure mounted on the chief minister, he appointed a committee of bureaucrats to study the report. That committee is yet to file its report, practically sending it to cold storage.

Meanwhile, in keeping with procedure, the BJP government sent an action-taken report to Hegde, who dubbed it an “action not taken report”, alleging that nothing had been done on his recommendations.

Bhardwaj today refused to comment on the final Lokayukta report’s “leaked” portions that purportedly name former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal (Secular), state revenue minister Karunakara Reddy, tourism minister Janardhana Reddy, health minister B. Sriramulu, housing minister V. Somanna, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Anil Lad and Bellary MLA Nagendra besides some 600 government officials from various departments.

The Opposition has intensified calls for Yeddyurappa’s head, while BJP leaders have been trying to deflect the pressure by saying they would wait for the report’s release.

State BJP chief K.S. Easwarappa today held a meeting to find a way of tackling the crisis.

Karnataka Congress chief G. Parameshwar has underscored that no one has yet challenged the “leaked” report’s contents.

A CPM politburo statement said: “The BJP leadership cannot prevaricate... (and) must own full responsibility for instituting a government in Karnataka which is riddled with the mining mafia and those patronising them.”