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.
The inclusion of the Lokayukta factor in the bill approved by the Cabinet is expected to become a sticky point in Parliament. Sheela Bhatt reports.
When the powerful Reddy brothers of Karnataka staged a coup against B S Yeddyurappa a couple of months back, they had said something very important, "Our final decision would depend on what Sushma amma says."
The Centre has declined to divulge details of persons who have applied for the posts of chairperson and members of anti-corruption body Lokpal, saying these are "personal" in nature and cannot be disclosed.
Modi has a real challenge if the allegations of corruption pick up momentum. Modi was struggling to improve his image with the minorities but now he will have to convince the majority that his deals were clean and he is above board, says Sheela Bhatt.
The mining scam in Karnataka brought down BS Yeddyurappa from the chief minister's seat. Now it threatens to expose the state's 3 former chief minister S M Krishna, H D Kumaraswamy and N Dharam Singh. Vicky Nanjappa reports
The way appears to have been cleared for Anna Hazare to end his fast possibly on Friday when Parliament will discuss the Jan Lokpal Bill along with other civil society drafts on the subject after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made the ice-breaking offer.
Team Anna member and former Karnataka Lokayukta Justice (retd) N Santosh Hegde on Tuesday appealed to Anna Hazare to end his eight-day fast, saying everyone is "honestly" concerned about his health.
Justice Santosh Hegde has become a very popular face at the protests against corruption at Freedom Park in Bengaluru.
Justice Santosh Hegde has become a very popular face at the protests against corruption at Freedom Park in Bengaluru.
"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.
The two lawyers, who had first moved the Governor seeking sanction to prosecute the Chief Minister, moved the special court with two separate petitions.
Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday made it clear that Anna Hazare and his team could have moved the court if they had problems with the conditions imposed on the activist's proposed fast by the Delhi police. But given the glaring loopholes in the hasty action taken against Hazare, the government seems to be on a very weak footing.
Twenty one legislators from the Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka were sworn in at the Raj Bhavan on Monday. While the new cabinet looks more or less the same, the most important exlusion is that of the Reddy brothers and their close aide B Sriramulu.
In an interim order, the Supreme Court has permitted the state-run NMDC to operate two mines in Bellary district. The NMDC, which has been granted leases by the state government, was permitted by the Supreme Court to extend the production of iron ore to the tune of one million tonnes per month from Saturday. Incidentally, the NMDC finds a mention in the Lokayukta report due to alleged lease violations.
D Sadananda Gowda will be sworn in as the new chief minister of Karnataka on Thursday at 4.30 pm, according to a communication from the Raj Bhavan.
The Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka is keeping matters close to its heart amid factions within the party warring over the post of the next chief minister.
Outgoing Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, who lost his job in the wake of his indictment by Lokayukta in the illegal mining scam, on Tuesday publicly said he would return to this post in six months.
N Santosh Hegde on Tuesday retired as Karnataka Lokayukta after an "eventful" five years in office and said effort by some ministers to discredit his mining report that cost B S Yeddyurappa his chair was not unexpected as he has brought out a 'bitter truth'.
Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde on Thursday said he was reconsidering his decision to be on the joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill, apparently upset over the vilification campaign against the anti-graft panel.
A crucial meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party legislature party, chaired by B S Yeddyurappa, will be held at 4:30 am on Friday at Hotel Ashok.
In yet another sign of fissure in his relations with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj has sought an "unconditional apology" from Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa over his reported remarks on illegal mining issue.
Justice Hegde takes us through his journey in this exclusive interview with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, in which he speaks about various aspects ranging from the mining report, his future plans and also his successes and failures in all the roles that he has donned so far.
Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde on Tuesday described as a "political game" Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa's appeal to the prime minister to constitute a committee to inquire into the alleged phone-tapping scandal.
The Karnataka high court on Monday granted bail to former minister Katta Subramanya Naidu, who was arrested in connection with the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board land scam.
The case of Gujaratis also the eye-opener for all Indians, who are agitating for the Lokpal bill.
Former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa is set to spend the festival of Diwali in jail after the Karnataka high court on Monday adjourned his bail plea to October 28. The 68-year-old Bharatiya Janata Party leader had sought bail in two of the five corruption cases against him. The Special Lokayukta Court had remanded him to judicial custody -- first to October 22 and later till November 3.
In an interview with Vicky Nanjappa, S R Hiremath of the Samaj Parivartana Samuday claims he has irrefutable evidence that the Reddy brothers are involved in illegal mining. Hiremath had filed a petition in the Supreme Court for a probe in illegal mining in Bellary district.
The denotification bug has come to hit the Karnataka government yet again. Two more cases have surfaced and this time Home Minister R Ashok is under the scanner.
There was hue and cry over the Lokayukta report on illegal mining in Bellary, and in even went on to cost B S Yeddyurappa his chair as the chief minister of Karnataka. But today the entire focus is on Goa which, according to the preliminary report of the Shah commission, gives the indication that illegal mining in the tourist haven is nothing short of the Bellary scenario.
A day after asking Anna Hazare not to fast from August 16 if a strong anti-corruption bill is not prepared, Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde, a Lokpal Bill drafting committee member, on Sunday expressed solidarity with him saying that they had no differences.
Meetings of the joint drafting committee on Lokpal bill slated for June 20 and 21 would be a mere formality with little scope for discussion, Karnataka Lokayukta and a member of the panel Santosh Hegde said on Thursday.
For the bribe takers, the bill proposes to increase the punishment to a minimum of three years of imprisonment, which may extend to seven years, besides fine.
Karnataka Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde said the need to obtain sanction from a competent authority to prosecute public servants in cases of corruption is weakening the fight against corruption in the country.
The government and opposition on Saturday appeared to be on the same page in Lok Sabha during the debate on the Lokpal issue with both sides emphasising that Anna Hazare should end his fast.
Lok Sabha member D V Sadananda Gowda was on Thursday sworn-in as chief minister of Karnataka, succeeding B S Yeddyurappa, who quit in the wake of the Lokayukta report on illegal mining that indicted him.
It was the name that was doing the rounds in the media since ousted Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa was asked to resign following the Lokayukta report on illegal mining.
10 mn-tonne plant in Mamata's crosshairs; company says work in progress.
State exchequer lost Rs 325 crore, says Lokayukta.
Amid speculation that Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa will be forced to quit in the wake of Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hedge indicting him and others in his report on illegal mining, the news from the Bharatiya Janata Pary high command is that any decision in this regard will be taken only on Thursday.
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