Ahead of the crucial Lokayukta report on illegal mining in Karnataka which will be submitted before the chief secretary on Wednesday morning, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has sought the intervention of the Gods.
Justice Santosh Hegde on Wednesday said it is "extremely difficult" to believe that allegations raised by Team Anna against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could exist but demanded an inquiry if there are documents to suggest that some wrongdoing was done.
Karnataka high court on Tuesday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation, charging Governor H R Bhardwaj, Home Minister R Asoka, Bharatiya Janata Party member of parliament Ananth Kumar and former Lokayukta Santosh Hegde with conspiring to unseat former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa when he was in power.
The Lokpal Bill, which seeks to curb corruption, has run into rough weather after the government objected strongly to certain clauses in the much-anticipated bill.The prime bone of contention during Monday's meeting between representatives of the civil society and the Centre was the proposed inclusion of both the prime minister and the judiciary within the purview of the Lokpal bill.
After disbanding his team, Anna Hazare is working on plans to stitch a new team in the crusade against corruption for which he has convened a meeting of like-minded people by the end of this month.
Key Team Anna member Justice (retd) N Santosh Hegde said on Friday that keeping money abroad without permission should be made an offence, as that alone would force countries to part information on such offenders with India.
The Foundation for Democratic Reforms and Lok Satta, along with some organisations will arrange a round table conference in New Delhi on April 24. The conference is for a consensus on the creation of a powerful and independent Lok Pal at the national level and Lokayuktas in states.
Briefing mediapersons about Saturday's first Lok Pal joint draft committee meeting after a three-hour closed door meeting between Anna Hazare, Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan, Arvind Kejriwal and Justice N Santosh Hegde on Friday, the members declared their assets to the press, claiming they had nothing to hide.
Key Team Anna member Justice N Santosh Hegde admitted on Wednesday that corruption and governance issues did not determine the outcome of Uttar Pradesh elections but said the anti-graft sentiment certainly worked in Goa.
Aiming at devising a strategy for passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill in Parliament, the two-day meeting of the core committee of Team Anna began in Ralegan Siddhi on Saturday.
Former Karnataka Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde on Monday favoured handing over the probe into illegal mining in the state to the Central Bureau of Investigation, maintaining that the Obalapuram Mining Company owned by former minister G Janardhana Reddy indulged in such activity.
Justice Santosh Hegde on Monday disapproved the move to bring breach of privilege motion against Kiran Bedi and actor Om Puri for their controversial remarks about parliamentarians at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi saying such a motion should be used in exceptional cases.
Team Anna member Swami Agnivesh is deeply hurt by the campaign launched against him by fellow members Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi, who have publicly run him down.
Contending that corruption can no longer be ignored and the voice of 'aam-aadmi' should now be heard, former Karnataka Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde on Sunday expressed confidence that public support for Anna Hazare and his campaign would continue until his demands are met by the government.
The Karnataka high court on Monday directed former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa to place before it the report prepared by Dr U V Singh, the state's chief conservator of forests, on the basis of which the Lokayukta report had been prepared.
Vicky Nanjappa explores Justice Santosh Hegde's report on illegal mining in Karnataka and finds out a shocking case of abuse of power and guidelines in Bellary
On Wednesday, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh were in Bengaluru to oversee a special secret ballot election process within BJP MLAs from Karnataka to choose the next chief minister. The two candidates were D V Sadananda Gowda and Jagdish Shettar.
Another interesting part of the report is the one on illegalities in M/s Janthakal Enterprises. It talks about Daya Nayak and H D Kumraswamy trying to exercise their clout and how iron ore was exported to Pakistan illegally.
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa's followers spoke up for him before the Bharatiya Janata Party's high command on Friday morning. Now, they have decided to take on the report on illegal mining by Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde that indicts the CM and his family.
Rediff.com brings you some explosive extracts from the 400-page report that has triggered a political tsunami.
Putting up a brave face despite the damning indictment by the state Lokayukta on illegal mining, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Wednesday said his government needs time to study the "voluminous" report submitted by the anti-corruption watchdog and maintained that "most of its points" were pending in courts. Reacting to the report of Lokayukta Santosh Hegde, Yeddyurappa pointed out that it was a voluminous report running into hundreds of pages and had 31 chapters.
Amid intense speculation on the fate of the indicted Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, Karnataka Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde will submit his report on mining scam to the State government on Wednesday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party high command, meanwhile, has indicated that it could accept Yeddyurappa's option of setting up an internal committee to look into the allegations against the CM and his sons. This would give the BJP time.
Home Minister P Chidambaram on Monday said that if the leaked report of the Karnataka Lokayukta on illegal mining is correct, then it is an indictment of Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.
Team Anna member N Santosh Hegde on Friday blamed all political parties for non-passage of the Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha, saying it was "choreographed by everybody".
The Karnataka government is contemplating the next course of action in the wake of the damning revelations of the report by state Lokayukta Santosh Hegde about the involvement of Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and several ministers of the state in the lucrative illegal mining racket.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Sunday insisted that he had given no licence for mining in forest area in Karnataka in his capacity as the state chief minister, a day after a probe was ordered against him in a mining scam.
Lambasting the United Progressive Alliance government for hitting out at social crusaders like Anna Hazare and Ramdev, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Monday challenged it to dissolve the Lok Sabha and face mid-term elections.
Karnataka Governor H R Bharadwaj caught everyone by surprise on Wednesday when he said that he would immediately sign the papers if the government proposed the name of Justice Santosh Hegde for the post of Lokayukta.
Activist Anna Hazare started his one-day fast at Rajghat in Delhi to protest against the police crackdown on Baba Ramdev and his supporters during their agitation against corruption.
Asserting that the Lokpal cannot completely wipe out corruption which is as old as the civilisation itself, Team Anna member Justice N Santosh Hegde on Monday said that if the menace could be contained up to 60-70 per cent, "we would be very strong".
The stand-off between Karnataka government and Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde over the legality of ordering a judicial probe into land scams showed no sign of abating with the Ombudsman questioning the former's contention.
Karnataka Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde on Saturday issued a notice to Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on a complaint against him about denotification of lands.Earlier on Saturday, the Lokayukta expressed regret over his decision to withdraw his resignation over the government's inaction about the massive corruption in the state. While addressing the media at Bengaluru on Saturday, Justice Hegde said that he cannot now undo what has been done and he cannot resign again.
Contrary to what has been said a couple of weeks back, the Karnataka government has written to the Lokayukta that it is on course to initiate action based on the report on illegal mining.
"We propose to cover organisations like ISRO and arms deals under the purview of Jan Lokpal as they are important from internal security angle, besides the Prime Minister above all who will come under its jurisdiction," Karnataka Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde, part of the 10-member Joint Drafting Committee on Lokpal Bill, told media persons in Bengaluru.
Team Anna member Justice Santosh Hegde on Friday said it will be a "misconduct" if activist Kiran Bedi had not taken the permission of organisers of events for transferring the difference in money on air tickets to her non-governnment organisation.
Reflecting a rift within Team Anna Hazare, Justice Santosh Hegde has disapproved of the anti-Congress campaign by activist Arvind Kejriwal during the Hisar bypolls, saying it was not the right thing to do and "we jumped the gun".
Speaking to PTI in Bengaluru, the former Supreme Court judge said every political party has "good and honest people" and targeting an outfit as a whole is not correct. He said he is opposed to such an idea (campaigning against a party).
Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Saturday backed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's demand for inclusion of a Dalit representative in the Lokpal drafting committee while Justice Santosh Hegde does not seem to find any merit in it.
Justice Santosh Hegde on Saturday indicated that he may not resign from the joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's statement that the government was looking forward to enacting a strong anti-corruption legislation.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances