The Central Bureau of Investigation probing the alleged illegal mining and irregularities in allotment of leases to Obulapuram Mining Company, on Friday began questioning former Karnataka minister Gali Karunakara Reddy in connection with the case.
Even as the crisis widens in the Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka, the party faction headed by Bellary mining tycoons Reddy brothers -- consisting of state tourism minister G Janardhana Reddy and revenue minister G Karunakara Reddy -- has put forth a fresh list of demands in order to avert the calamity. The Reddy brothers want a major reshuffle in the Karnataka cabinet and are expected to place this demand before senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley, later on Thursday evening.
Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Jagadish Shettar on Monday urged the Bharatiya Janata Party central leadership to induct controversial Reddy brothers into Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda's ministry.
In this exclusive interview with Vicky Nanjappa, B Sriramulu says he has no intention of destabilising the Karnataka government.
Dissident Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, campaigning for Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa's ouster, on Saturday discussed the latest developments in the crisis in the party with Assembly Speaker Jagadish Shettar, who has emerged a rallying point for the rebels, in Bengaluru.
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, who had taken a tough stand on the ongoing crisis within the party, softened his stance on Sunday evening and termed the Reddy brothers -- consisting of state tourism minister G Janardhana Reddy and revenue minister G Karunakara Reddy, who are spearheading a faction within the state BJP to oust Yeddyurappa from the CM's chair -- his friends!
With the arrest of Bellary mining magnate Janardhan Reddy by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the focus has now shifted to the Obulapuram Mining Company, the lease for which was granted by the Andhra Pradesh government then led by Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.
In Bellary, the dusty core of the mining industry in Karnataka, the rich get richer and the poor continue to live in squalor, say locals.
In the second expansion in three days, Karnataka Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda on Thursday inducted five ministers of cabinet rank into his ministry, but kept out the controversial Reddy brothers.
The three Karnataka ministers, who are in the midst of illegal mining controversy, on Monday contended before the Election Commission that Governor H R Bhardwaj had no authority to refer to it the petition seeking their disqualification from the state legislature.
'BJP was always there in my blood, but due to some reasons I had gone out, but today I feel I have come back to my mother's lap. Looking at my brothers here, I don't feel like I'm coming back to the BJP office after 13 years'
The Election Commission has served notices to three Karnataka ministers, including Reddy brothers, on a petition seeking their disqualification as MLAs on grounds of alleged amassing of wealth and misuse of power.
Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party dissidents on Thursday rebuffed Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa's efforts to reach out to them by refusing to meet him.
The situation in the Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party deteriorated on Sunday with no positive result emerging out of the meeting the Reddy faction -- spearheaded by state tourism minister G Janardhana Reddy and revenue minister G Karunakara Reddy -- held with the party high command.
Sleuths of the Income Tax department on Monday conducted raids on the residences and offices of two Member of Legislative Assembly of the Bharatiya Janata Party, according to sources. Raids were conducted at the residences and offices of Suresh Babu and Nagendra. According to sources, raids were conducted in 60 different places including their offices at Bellary and Bengaluru. Their residences were also searched by I-T department officials. I-T sleuths have seized black money
In the first sign of dissidence in Karnataka's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party a day after change of guard, 12 disgruntled legislators who failed to get ministerial berths met under the leadership of former minister and mining magnate Karunakara Reddy in Bengaluru.
Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj, who is gunning for the removal of Reddy brothers from the state ministry on the issue of illegal mining, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram and is understood to have discussed the issue.
There appears to be no solution in sight to the ongoing crisis in the Karnataka unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party with the Reddy brothers -- comprising state Tourism Minister G Janardhan Reddy and Revenue Minister G Karunakara Reddy, who are spearheading a faction to oust BS Yeddyurappa from the CM's chair -- refusing to settle for anything less than a leadership change in the state.
A video showing a Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party leader allegedly trying to bribe a kin of a former Chief Justice of India to get a favourable verdict for mining baron G Janardhana Reddy in an illegal mining case aired on the last day of campaigning before polling on May 12.
With the Congress' 'Bellary Chalo' march in protest against the BJP government's "failure" to check illegal mining entering the fifth day, three Karnataka ministers today launched a counter rally challenging the Opposition to prove its charge.
Chief Minister of Karnataka B S Yeddyurappa stated in New Delhi that there is no threat to his post. However, this would come at a price, since the Reddy faction -- consisting of Karnataka Speaker Jagadish Shettar, Tourism Minister G Janardhana Reddy and Revenue Minister G Karunakara Reddy, who are spearheading the rebellion within the state BJP to oust Yeddyurappa -- with the support of nearly 67 MLAs are still looking for a hard bargain.
As the crisis in the Karnataka's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party between the factions led by chief minister B S Yeddyurappa and the other spearheaded by the Bellary mining tycoons cum state ministers G Janardhana Reddy and G Karunakara Reddy, Yedurappa is scheduled to meet leader of opposition LK Advani and other senior party leaders in New Delhi on Wednesday.
The crisis in the Bharatiya Janata Party's Karnataka unit appears to be worsening. The latest development in ongoing power struggle is that the Reddy brothers led by Janardhan Reddy has left for Hyderabad with 15 MLAs in a bid to shield them from being wooed by the Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa's camp.
Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj on Wednesday said he has a list of corrupt people in the state and offered to furnish it to those interested. "I have given the list to Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa also," Bhardwaj said. Bhardwaj's remarks came just a few days after he shot off two letters to Yeddyurappa seeking his response to land scam charges against him and on illegal mining allegedly involving three ministers -- G Janardhana Reddy, G Karunakara Reddy and B Sreeramulu.
The list does not include Jagadish Shettar who met BJP president J P Nadda earlier in the day to stake his claim to contest from his Hubli-Dharwad Central constituency.
BJP's chief ministerial candidate said that winning each assembly constituency was important for the party.
The launch of a new party by former Karnataka minister and mining baron G Janardhana Reddy has spiced up the poll scene in parts of state.
The BJP would win at least 130 seats and there is no need to take any party's support, Shah claimed.
In an attempt to placate mining magnates Reddy brothers who failed to get ministerial berths in Karnataka, Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari on Friday told them that "a ministerial post is not permanent in politics". Gadkari, who inaugurated a mass marriage programme organised by the district BJP unit in Bellary under the leadership of former minister B Sreeramulu, exhorted the Reddy brothers to devote their energies to the service of the people.
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Friday hinted at a compromise formula, under which he may have to axe some ministers and transfer some senior officials, to end the crisis. Yeddyurappa also ruled out any leadership change in the state. Under a reported compromise formula in the making, Rural Development Minister Shobha Karandlaje, considered close to the chief minister, may be axed. Assembly Speaker Jagdish Shettar may be inducted into the cabinet.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka on Friday expressed its regret about granting political powers to the Reddy brothers of Bellary. "We regret giving powers to three ministers in Bellary. People here are now facing anxious moments. There have been some mistakes on our part too. We will not allow such things to recur in the future," Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said. Reddy brothers -- Janardhana and Karunakara -- and their loyalist Sreeramulu.
Vietnam Open: Simran-Ritika in quarters.
While B Sriramulu, once considered a trusted lieutenant of the mining barons from Bellary, the Reddy brothers, announced re-joining the BJP recently, senior party leader Sushma Swaraj seems vehemently opposed to it, putting the party in a spot of bother. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Fancy cars, helicopters, crime and money in abundance, the Reddy brothers were once a symbol of aggression; the Bharatiya Janata Party, which they represented, was totally subservient to them. However, all that has changed today.
Venting her grouse over entry of Badava Shramika Raitha Congress president B Sreeramalu in the Bharatiya Janata Party, senior leader Sushma Swaraj on Friday night said he was taken in despite her "stiff opposition".
Sushma Swaraj has fought battles fearlessly, lost a few, and won many. By rights, according to many, she is the one who should have been declared the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate for this year's general elections. But that didn't happen. Is that why she is so quiet these days?
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