New Delhi, July 13 (IANS) As Congress and JD-S legislators continued their protest against illegal mining in the Karnataka assembly, Governor H.R. Bharadwaj Tuesday met President Pratibha Patil here and said corruption would not be allowed to flourish.
‘You can’t have corruption. Nobody can be given license to do corruption,’ the governor told reporters here. Bharadwaj, who held a breakfast meeting with the president, said he would uphold his responsibilities as governor.
‘I will not shirk from my responsibilities. I am a governor. I know my responsibilities. Whatever the people feel I also feel,’ the governor said.
He is likely to meet Home Minister P. Chidambaram Wednesday.
Bharadwaj said the illegal mining issue should be probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation or some other agency.
‘You are being paid from the state exchequer. How can you engage in such activities?,’ the governor asked, in an oblique reference to the Reddy brothers, mining magnates and members of the state cabinet.
Bharadwaj, a former law minister, said he respects Karnataka Lokayukta, obsudsman, Santosh Hegde, who had earlier announced he would quit in protest against the large-scale illegal mining activity, but later agreed to continue. ‘Lokpal is there but… no work. I have to see that the rule of law should prevail,’ the governor said.
Bharadwaj said he has informed Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa about the developments in the state and has expressed his concern.
Karnataka is a peaceful state and there is no law and order problem, he added.
Legislators of the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular have been camping in the assembly since Monday and said they would continue to do so until the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) agreed to a probe by the CBI.
The Reddy brothers, Tourism Minister G. Janardhana Reddy, his elder brother and Revenue Minister G. Karunakara Reddy, and younger brother and assembly member G. Somashekara Reddy, are accused of large-scale illegal mining in Bellary as well as neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.
The brothers own the Obulapuram Mining Company.
Between 2003 and now, over 30 million tonnes of iron ore has been illegally mined and exported from Karnataka causing a huge revenue loss. Congress and JD-S claim that the illegal mining scam is worth around Rs.60,000 crore (Rs.600 billion).
