Deadlock in Karnataka over the mining issue continued for the second day with Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa failing to convince the Opposition to let the proceedings go on smoothly.
The mining scam in Karnataka could easily be worth Rs 2,500 crore says Justice Santosh Hegde, the state's Lokayukta. An exclusive first person account to Rediff.com
With his government facing flak over recent attacks against churches, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Monday blamed certain Christain organisations for flaring up "disharmony and social tension" in the state.
Claiming that over three crore tons of iron ore worth over Rs 12,000 crore was illegally shifted out of the country since 2003, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa said on Monday that he will quit if he failed to put an end to plundering of the natural resources in the state.
Lokayutka of Karnataka Justice Santosh Hegde said that the proposal made by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa to give suo motu powers to the Lokayukta to investigate all public servants except the chief minister, ministers, legislators and public servants nominated by the government, neither makes him happy nor sad.
A last ditch attempt by the Bharatiya Janata Party to refrain Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde from resigning has failed. State BJP unit chief K S Eshwarappa, Home Minister Dr V S Acharya and Law Minister Suresh Kumar met Justice Hegde and asked him to reconsider his decision, but the Lokayukta averred that he will not change his mind.
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Friday met Governor H R Bharadwaj at the Raj Bhavan reportedly to put an end to the bitter feud between them. A war of words had ensued between the CM and the governor after the latter asked Yeddyurappa to take a second floor test to prove his majority in the assembly. He had also pulled up the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government for not taking any action against its allegedly corrupt ministers.
Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj on Thursday rapped the Bharatiya Janata Party government over inadequate rehabilitation work in the state's flood-hit northern districts, but Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa disagreed with his view and asserted that relief work was going on a 'war-footing'. Bhardwaj said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh conducted an aerial survey of the affected districts and announced an aid of Rs 1,000 crore, "but nothing has been done by the state government". "
Jagadish Shettar, who had become a rallying point for dissidents during the recent rebellion against Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, was sworn-in as a cabinet minister on Tuesday.The BJP high command also set up a 14-member coordination committee today to oversee the affairs of the Yeddyurappa government, thereby meeting another condition of the rebels.
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Monday said problems arising out of dissident activities that recently gripped his government are over and the focus now is on relief works in flood-hit areas.
Asked whether he implied that "crisis" for him was over, he replied in the affirmative. But did the thought of quitting ever cross his mind during the peak of attack on him, with even BJP being dragged in.
In yet another step to implement the truce deal with the dissidents to end the crisis in his government, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Tuesday rescinded the transfer orders of some officials, two weeks after he had shunted them out to strike at the rebels gunning for his removal.
Seeking to give a new twist to his ongoing war against the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Karnataka over alleged land scams, Janata Dal - Secular leader H D Kumaraswamy on Saturday claimed Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa had made a vain bid to patch up with him."Two days ago, a right hand man of Yeddyurappa had a telephonic talk (with me) to say the chief minister wanted to strike a compromise with me to end the expose of the misdeeds of his government,"said Kumaraswamy.
Stung by the internal revolt within the party against his style of functioning, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Sunday vowed to 'work together' in the future for the development of the people and the state. "You will see a different Yeddyurappa from tomorrow," he told reporters at midnight at his residence, on arrival from New Delhi, where the Bharatiya Janata Party evolved an 'amicable settlement' to end the two-week long stalemate following the revolt.
The political crisis in Karnataka BJP seemed headed for a resolution with warring factions led by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and the Reddy brothers saying an announcement is likely by this evening.
Yeddyurappa will have to take one of the hardest decisions of his political career when he drops Shobha from the ministry in order to save his chair.
BJP chief Rajnath Singh, who met with the warring factions on Thursday, said the party was confident that the crisis will be resolved soon. He, however, ruled out any leadership change in the Karnataka. In short, B S Yeddyurappa's chief minister seat is secure for now.
With Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on a sticky wicket in the wake of corruption charges, Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj on Tuesday said he would give his assessment on the political crisis in the state to President Pratibha Patil as and when necessary.
As many as 163 persons were feared dead when an Air India Express flight from Dubai with 173 on board crashed and caught fire on Saturday as it overshot the newly-built runway while landing at the Mangalore airport. There were seven survivors who are being treated in various hospitals in the city.
The stalemate continued in the Bharatiya Janata Party over the decision to sack B S Yeddyurappa as the Chief Minister. Dr V S Acharya, Education minister in the Karnataka Government who just held a meeting with BJP chief Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi told rediff.com that it is not easy changing the chief minister and he has conveyed the same to Gadkari.
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.
Amid indications that the BJP high command may ask him to step down in the wake of alleged land scams, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa left for Puttaparthi on Monday to "seek the blessings" of Sri Satya Sai Baba.
The Bharatiya Janata Party high command has issued an ultimatum to Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa to put in his papers by 10 am on Monday, according to sources in the party.
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!
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.
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.
As the three dissident ministers continued their defiant stance against him, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Thursday talked tough, hinting at 'stern action' against them."These people cannot cow me down. They are worried about my popularity graph," Yeddyurappa told reporters.Yeddyurappa said he has asked the party central leadership to take action against Tourism Minister G Janardhana Reddy, Revenue Minister G Karunakara Reddy and Health Minister B Sreeramulu.
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Monday he was ready to order a judicial probe into the charges of denotification and allotment of land and sites, including those to a firm in which his two sons are partners.
The rift between Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and his mine-owning ministerial colleagues continued as they stepped up their campaign against a new cess imposed on lorries transporting iron ore.Tourism Minister G Janardhana Reddy, himself a mine owner in the ore-rich Bellary district, took the lead by holding parleys with fellow miners to mobilise support against the Rs 1,000 cess on each lorry load of iron ore.
Ajmal Kasab's execution, after he was sent to the gallows on Thursday, may not happen soon, but calls grew loud that he be hanged quickly, amid hopes that the Pakistani terrorist does not end up being on the death row 'waiting list'. Authorities were asked to show urgency in carrying out the death sentence awarded to the 22-year-old Pakistani terrorist. "I don't want any delay in hanging Kasab. I want fast track hanging of Kasab," said K Unnikrishnan.
A CID inquiry was ordered and the police registered a case of rape against H Halappa who quit as Karnataka Minister following a charge of sexual assault made by his friend's wife.
"Due to delay in finalising the names of those to be inducted into the ministry, I had to cancel Wednesday's swearing in. I will set a new date and am sure to expand the ministry", he told media persons in Bengaluru.
While AP Chief Minister Ken Rosaiah has thanked the central government for the move to set up the IISc's second campus in the backward district of Anantapur in AP, his Karnataka counterpart B S Yeddyurappa has made it clear that the second IISc campus would come up in Chitradurga district of Karnataka.
Karnataka continues to reel under one of it worst floods in recent times. The death toll has crossed 200 and 25 lakh hectares of standing crop has been damaged, as per a report prepared by the state government.
The Centre on Friday asked the Karnataka government to file cases under stronger laws against Sri Ram Sena chief Pramod Muthalik and the organisation's activists, who were arrested by the police ahead of Valentine's Day. "The accused should be booked under stronger laws. Their bail should be cancelled also," Women and Child Development Minister Renuka Chowdhury said in a letter to Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.
Previously, chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Haryana had written to the Centre seeking 7.5-8 million standard cubic metres per day each of RIL's KG-D6 field gas for power plants in their respective states immediately.
For now, the Congress and Janata Dal-S have decided to adopt a wait-and-watch policy in the Karnataka crisis. Although it is rumoured that the JD-S has engineered the turmoil, they are not expected to swoop in till they get a clearer picture of the situation on October 11
A Raj Bhavan communication issued on Wednesday states that 14 BJP MLAs and 5 Independents have withdrawn their support from the government.
The first Bharatiya Janata Party government in south India is in disarray yet again. This time Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa will have to prove his majority on October 12 with 21 MLAs resigning from the government and bringing the numbers down to 96. The magic figure is 113.
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa's last-ditch attempt to ensure the smooth unveiling of Thiruvalluvar's statue in Bengaluru went down the drain with three pro-Kannada groups boycotting a meeting convened by him.
