Ministers loyal to former chief minister, B.S. Yeddyurappa, on Saturday extracted an assurance from Chief Minister, D.V. Sadananda Gowda that the state government would send a fresh report to the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) on the alleged involvement of three former chief ministers— S.M. Krishna, Dharam Singh and H.D. Kumaraswamy—in illegal mining.
Sources in the ruling party said the ministers, including excise minister M P Renukacharya, took the issue with Chief Minister at the cabinet meeting after they got an ear-full from Mr Yeddyurappa on his return from the national executive meeting in Mumbai. Medical education minister, S.A. Ramadas, pacified his colleagues at the meeting.
Mr Renukacharya reportedly argued, “Not only was there a delay in sending a reply to the CEC on the role of three former chief ministers in illegal mining, it was also a biased reply.” He charged the Chief Minister with taking a unilateral decision on the reply to queries by the CEC. While the government said it had no objection to a CBI probe against Mr Yeddyurappa, it reportedly let the former chief ministers off the hook by informing the CEC that there was no necessity for such an inquiry against them, he added.
Earlier, Mr Sadananda Gowda defended the decision of the government with regard to its reply to queries posed by CEC. “Our officers have filed an appropriate reply after gathering all the details. There is no delay on the part of the state government in replying to the CEC. Our reply is based on documents available with the state government,” he said.