Karnataka newsBS Yeddyurappa's exit as Chief Minister from Karnataka has possibly been scripted in the report on illegal mining that was presented today by Santosh Hegde to the Karnataka government. Mr Hegde has recommended that the Chief Minister be prosecuted under the Prevention of Corruption Act. (Watch: Yeddyurappa, family involved in illegal mining, says Justice Hegde)
Within minutes of Mr Hegde going public with his charges against the Chief Minister and his family, Mr Yeddyurappa left for Delhi on a chartered flight to discuss his political future with BJP leaders. He's unlikely, sources say, to find a sympathetic audience. Speaking to NDTV, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said,"Illegal mining is wrong. There is no doubt about it. The party will take a judicious decision that's expected of us." (Watch: Yeddyurappa, the man with the political six-pack)
Mr Hegde is the Lokayukta or ombudsman of Karnataka. His report -10,000 pages that filled two steel trunks - says that between 2006 and 2010 the state lost Rs. 16,085 crores because of illegal mining. It indicts Mr Yeddyurappa and his children for illicit relations with mining companies.
Other senior politicians are also found guilty of sanctioning or participating in illegal mining. They include former Chief Minister and Opposition leader HD Kumaraswamy; the Reddy brothers - Janardhana and Karunakara - who are mining barons and cabinet ministers; and Congress MP Anil Lad. (Read: Bellary - Mined over and over again by Karnataka politicians)
The charges against Mr Yeddyurappa are so grim that even his famed skills for political survival are unlikely to save the day. Mr Hegde finds that a trust fund run by the Chief Minister's family in his home area of Shimoga received Rs. 10 crore from a company dealing in iron-ore . The donor was not financially stable, and borrowed the money it paid the Trust. The Lokayukta also says that a mining company purchased an acre of land for Rs. 20 crore from the Trust, whereas the land was not worth more than Rs. 1.25 crore. Mr Hegde described this as "an abnormal payment" and said,"We have come to an incontrovertible conclusion that this donation and sale consideration has been made for reasons other than genuine reasons."
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