Close on the heels of the Supreme Court ordering a CBI inquiry against him, the former Karnataka Chief Minister, B.S. Yeddyurappa, urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to conduct a comprehensive CBI inquiry into illegal mining from 2000 to 2012 — right from the Congress government headed by the then Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, till the present dispensation headed by Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda.
“I had requested the then Lokayukta Santosh Hegde to conduct a probe into illegal mining right from 2000. But he did not do so and only tried to portray me as guilty,” Mr. Yeddyurappa told a press conference at his Race Course Road residence here, after holding consultations with ministers and legislators from his camp.
Welcoming the CBI probe against him, Mr. Yeddyurappa said: “I am not afraid as such a probe will only bring out the truth. I will face the inquiry boldly.”
Expressing confidence that the probe would prove his innocence, he asked BJP workers not to get disheartened.
He claimed that he was the first Chief Minister in the country to take stringent steps to prevent illegal mining.
Asked if he would quit the BJP, he said such a question did not arise at all.
Mr. Yeddyurappa, who was in the temple town of Nanjangud to attend a programme when the court delivered its verdict, returned to Bangalore in the evening. Soon after his return, he held several rounds of consultations with his supporters.
“It's a conspiracy”
Mysore Correspondent writes:
Earlier, participating at the inauguration of the Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeshwara Mangala Mantapa at Nanjangud in Mysore district, Mr. Yeddyurappa said he would tour the State to disclose the “conspiracy” hatched against him. He did not disclose the people behind the conspiracy. “This is not the platform to speak about it,” he said.
Referring to the “political conspiracy” against him, Mr. Yeddyurappa likened himself to Arjuna and said: “I know not only how to enter the Chakravyuha , but also to come out of it. I am trained like Arjuna.
“I was targeted in the illegal mining issue although I stopped it when I was in power. I will explain to the people what happened in the past, what is happening now and what will happen in the coming days. I have not done anything wrong.”
