Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa is stated to have sent a detailed reply to Union Minister for Home P. Chidambaram on the advisory that was made over to him by the Centre after the rejection of the special report of Governor H.R. Bhardwaj in which he had recommended President's Rule in the State.
Sources in the State government told The Hindu that the reply contains among other things a detailed explanation on the efforts made by the government in curbing illegal mining. It also seeks the Centre's support in banning the export of iron ore and enabling value addition to the ore mined here. With a session of the legislature commencing on Thursday, the matter is expected to figure prominently in the discussions on the floor of the legislature.
The Chief Minister has decided to keep his reply to the Centre under wraps and refer to it on the floor of the legislature, if need be. It is generally viewed that an advisory sent to a State under Article 355 could also be looked at as a precursor to invoking the provisions of Article 356 (imposition of President's rule).
The Union Home Minister sent the advisory personally to the Chief Minister and not to the State government. Therefore, sources here said, it is a communication between the Home Minister and the Chief Minister and resultantly the contents of the advisory have not been conveyed to the Chief Secretary.
There is no clarity on what the Chief Minister has said in his reply to the advisory on political defections. Mr Yeddyurappa has made a public statement that his government was committed to staying clear of any operation that seeks to engineer defections.
Recently, the Chief Minister said the Bharatiya Janata Party would not distance itself from the Bellary Ministers — G. Karunakara Reddy, G. Janardhana Reddy and B. Sriramulu, as the final report of the Karnataka Lokayukta is expected to carry details of their role in the illegal mining operations.
“The final report of the Lokayukta is awaited. Let us not presume that it is against the Bellary ministers. So far as I know, the Reddy brothers are not into such illegal mining and there is no case made against them,” he told journalists.
