Less than 72 hours after he quit over allegations he had suppressed information while seeking a site, advocate-general S. Vijayshankar reportedly gave a clean chit to law and parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Kumar, paving the way for his return to government.
The BJP’s “Mr Nice Guy”, who was in the dock after an allegation was made over the allotment of a “G” category site, had appealed to Karnataka chief minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda to institute a probe. Through the day, the AG examined the records pertaining to the allegations against the minister and pronounced him clean, before submitting the report to the state government on Monday evening.
“There is no procedural lapse on the part of the minister while obtaining ‘G’ category site,” the AG reportedly stated in his report. “Allegations were made against him with malafide intention. There is no substance to the allegation,” he added.
Sources close to the advocate-general also said the site was allotted to the minister in accordance with law and the minister was, therefore, not guilty.
Sources close to Mr Kumar said, however, that he was yet to withdraw his resignation.
“The report has reached chief minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, who reportedly told Mr Kumar that the former would reveal the details to the public, following which Mr Kumar was likely to withdraw his resignation,” sources said.
Meanwhile, three days after “exposing” Mr Suresh Kumar, RTI activist S. Bhaskaran is preparing to take the issue to the BJP high command in Delhi. “If they refuse to meet me, I will hold a press conference there,” Mr Bhaskaran, a loan recovery agent, said.