JD-S leader H D Kumaraswamy on Wednesday said that the truth has triumphed, a day after a petition filed in the Supreme Court seeking a CBI probe into alleged Rs 150 crore bribe collected by him from the mine lobby was withdrawn.
Alleging that former Karnataka Chief Minister Kumaraswamy had collected a bribe of Rs 150 crore from mine owners in Bellary, State Tourism Minister Janardhana Reddy had sought an inquiry by CBI into the allegations.
Yesterday, the Apex court had allowed Mr. Reddy to “withdraw the petition as dismissed” after senior counsel Mukul Rohtagi sought permission for withdrawing the 2006 petition on the ground that the Karnataka government had handed over the case to the State Lok Ayukta.
“Mr. Reddy is now free to seek any kind of inquiry into his allegations by tendering evidence. I am ready to face it”, Mr. Kumaraswamy told reporters here, adding, truth has triumphed.
Mr. Kumaraswamy said Mr. Reddy made the bribery allegations in 2006 after he ordered investigations into illegal mining on the basis of observations made by the then Forest Minister C Chennigappa.
The JD-S State unit President also dismissed a statement made by opposition Congress leader Siddaramaiah that he was “soft” on BJP. JD-S never compromised on its political ideology, he asserted.
