BeyondHeadlines Staff Reporter
Bangalore: Karnataka Governor HR Bhardwaj today sanctioned the criminal proceedings against Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa. Bhardwaj made the move even as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs prepared to pick their new leader in Karnataka.
“The Governor has accepted the findings and recommendation of Lokayukta in Chapter 22 of the report for initiating criminal proceedings against BS Yeddyurappa, Chief Minister of Karnataka. The Lokayukta may take further necessary action through Lokayukta Police,” said an official release issued by the Governor’s office.
Meanwhile Yeddyurappa reached Hotel Capitol in Bangalore for the BJP legislative party meeting. The meeting to decide on the new Karnataka chief minister has been delayed.
The choice is between Yeddyurappa’s man – senior Lingayat leader Sadanand Gowda and Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Jagadish Shettar. Parliamentary Affairs and Legislature Minister S Sureshkumar is a dark horse and is being seen as a compromise candidate.
In fact, sources say that there could be a vote on the names.
The Yeddyurappa faction had holed up 60 MLAs at Hotel Capitol, amid fears of horse-trading.
Top BJP leaders Arun Jaitely, Venkaiah Naidu and Rajnath Singh are in Bangalore for the legislative meet.
Yeddyurappa was forced to quit after Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde in a report came down heavily on the state government and the Chief Minister in the illegal mining case.
The report, a copy of which was also sent to the Governor, indicted Yeddyurappa and his family in the illegal mining case. Justice Hegde said that the Karnataka government had asked the Lokayukta in 2006 to submit a report on illegal mining in the state.
Justice Hegde also accused the state government of not taking any action to stop illegal mining.
“We have pointed out illegal mining can be controlled but unfortunately no action has been taken. We had to examine over 4 lakh records and 50 lakh entries to produce this report which comes to 25,288 pages. The illegalities done have been described in 31 chapters. We have come to the conclusion that the loss caused is Rs 16,085 crore from 2006 to 2010,” he said after submitting his report.
The Yeddyurappa family has also been accused of taking bribes from mining companies. Justice Hegde said that some companies paid money to Yeddyurappa’s family by cheque.
