Lokayukta's last day in office draws nearer and with the government showing no hurry to find Santosh Hegde's replacement, it looks like the CM will get away again this time
Lokayukta's last day in office draws nearer and with the government showing no hurry to find Santosh Hegde's replacement, it looks like the CM will get away again this time
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Justice N Santhosh Hegde is all set to retire on August 2 and with his report unlikely to be completed in time, it looks like Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa will come out unscathed this time as well. When a part of the Lokayukta's final report on illegal mining leaked to the media and the CM was indicted, a furor erupted in the state. Simultaneously, the alleged tapping of Lokayukta's phones fuelled further speculations on the ouster of Yeddyurappa, who is expected to return to the city today from Mauritius.
With thanks: The files, which were with Lokayukta while he was
probing the illegal mining case, were returned back to the respective
departments. Pic/Ramesh HS
While on holiday at the island retreat with family, Yeddyurappa reportedly had parleys with the BJP leaders about the next course of action, which included pushing close friend and cabinet colleague Shobha Karandlaje for the CM's post, in case he is forced to step down.
Humanly impossible
However, developments yesterday indicated that Hegde would miss the submission date again, as compilation of details is still pending. "The staff is working around the clock, but it is humanly impossible to finish everything by today or even tomorrow," said a source in Lokayukta.
The report to the government was expected to coincide with the CM's return from Mauritius today. Getting wind of the inevitable delay, Yeddyurappa has called for a press conference this eveningu00a0 where he is expected to say he would wait for submission of the report before taking any action. While responding to a news channel in Mauritius yesterday, Yeddyurappa sounded confident while taking a dig at Hegde for his wavering statements about the report and the leakage.
"It is unbecoming of him giving these statements. I even call upon the PM to intervene in this regard," he said.
The Lokayukta source added that while the full report won't be in time, it was likely that Hegde would submit a partial report, leaving the rest to his successor. The CM will then have three months to act upon the report with a prerogative of rejecting it if the government feels the findings are inappropriate.
"I will submit the report to the government because itu00a0 referred the case to me. It is up to the government to act upon it," said Hegde. He added he would not be around to see if the government sits on the issue or it goes to SC.
With the government showing no hurry to find Hegde's replacement, the Upa-Lokayukta has to take charge and it is left to be seen how fast S B Majjagi will act upon it. Amidst speculations that the Governor would intervene, H R Bharadwaj said he had no role to play in the case. "The ball is not in my court. The government had entrusted Hegde with the investigation andu00a0 he will submit the report. If anyone asks for advice, I will act according to law," he said.
According to party sources, the BJP high command was not contemplating a change of guard in the state government. They are however waiting for Central Empowered Committee to submit a report on illegal mining, which is a far more serious issue. "Let the Lokayukta submit the report and the government go through it and then raise questions of next course of action. The media cannot decide on whether the CM should go or stay," said K S Eswarappa, state president of the BJP.
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