Terming Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as an "honest person", yoga guru Ramdev on Sunday asked him to make his Cabinet "corruption free."
The Central Bureau of Investigation is conducting raids at the Bengaluru residence of former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa as part of its ongoing probe into alleged illegal mining. Searches area also on at the residences of his two sons and son-in-law.
In a surprise move, a complainant who had challenged Karnataka high court's move to quash the FIR against former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa in the alleged illegal mining case, Monday withdrew his appeal in the Supreme Court.
Lokayukta Court on Wednesday adjourned to May 5 further hearing on a private complaint against External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and two other former Karnataka chief ministers accusing them of involvement in illegal mining.
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.
But reiterates that licences of 46 blocks in operation should be retained.
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.
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.
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.
"Opposition parties hoping that I would quit would be disappointed," Yeddyurappa told media persons at the Bangalore Airport, on arrival from Mauritius, where he was on a six-day holiday with his family
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.
Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Santosh N Hegde, who is probing illegal mining in the state, on Thursday claimed that his phone has been tapped. Hegde, a former Supreme Court judge, told PTI that after reports of alleged bugging in the office of Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee surfaced, he had asked a professional to carry out a check in his office. "(The professional) told me that my telephone has been tapped. Every conversation was being recorded," he said.
In a renewed bid to get the party to reinstate him, former Chief Minister of Karnataka B S Yeddyurappa has decided to move his members of Legislative Assembly to a resort on Monday.
Crisis in the Bharatiya Janata Party's Karnataka unit appeared to worsen on Friday with former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa insisting on a February 27 ultimatum for his reinstatement and party president Nitin Gadkari ruling out replacing incumbent Sadananda Gowda. Yeddyurappa, who was forced to resign more than six months ago after a Lokayukta report indicted him on illegal mining, made it clear to the party chief that he was in no mood to wait any longer.
"We are inclined to stay the proceedings. Accordingly the proceedings on the FIR on the issue ordered by the Karnataka Lokayukta will remain stayed," a bench comprising justices Altamas Kabir and Gyan Sudha Misra said.
Explaining his vision for the region, Modi cited the example of Kutch district of Gujarat.
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.
Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde has decided to withdraw his resignation."If Governor H R Bhardwaj gives me an appointment, I will meet him on Sunday to withdraw my resignation," Hegde told reporters on Saturday.The top anti-corruption official had resigned to protest the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government's inaction about several of his reports, specially the one about the illegal mining lobby operating in Karnataka.
Yeddyurappa is being questioned by the CBI in connection with the illegal mining and land de-notification case.
The government had stated that the Lokayukta had not given the persons named in the report an opportunity to present their case before he named them and recommended action against them.
The Lokayukta court has summoned former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa to appear before it on August 27.The former CM and his family members were indicted in a report on the illegal mining racket in the state by former Lokayukta Santosh Hegde. The case against Yeddyurappa was filed by advocate Sirajudin Pasha. Earlier, the state governor had accorded sanction to prosecute the beleaguered BJP leader.But the trouble for the ruling BJP doesn't end here.
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.
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.
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.
The report on illegal mining by Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde has stepped up the heat on big wigs in the state including Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.
When defenceless, you counter attack. This is the strategy that Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has decided to adopt against the Congress, which is gunning for his head in the wake of the soon-to-be-released report on illegal mining. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
The political crisis in Karnataka appears to be going out of hand. On one hand former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa has parked himself along with 55 of his loyalist MLAs in a resort in Bengaluru, while on the other hand 10 Lok Sabha members from Karnataka have threatened to quit in case the Bharatiya Janata Party's central leadership does not take a decision on a leadership change in the state
Demand for the removal of Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Saturday emerged from within the Bharatiya Janata Party in the wake of the Lokayukta indicting him in his report on illegal mining in the state.
While Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has made it clear that he would not step down from his post, a discussion is already on about who is going to replace him in such a situation. The discussion has emerged in the wake of the illegal mining report which names Yeddyurappa.
Former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa will be in New Delhi on March 12 and will seek his reinstatement as CM of Karnataka.
The family of Swami Nigamananda, who died on Monday after a 114-day fast in the Bharatiya Janata Party led-Uttarakhand, suspect foul play behind his death. The seer slipped into coma while he was agitating for saving the Ganga River and checking illegal mining on its banks.
Shiva Solanki, nephew of Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Dinu Solanki was on Tuesday arrested from near the Rajkot airport in connection with the murder of Right To Information activist and green crusader Amit Jethwa in Ahmedabad, police said.
Mining companies will now have to cap mining activities in Goa.
"The DMK is not worried a wee bit," he said on the ED searches. Such an action by the ED was 'usual, ordinary and a drama' enacted to divert attention.
Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde on Monday described as "too premature" the clean chit given by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa to the Reddy brothers facing charges of illegal mining.
Karnataka ministers G Janardhan Reddy and G Karuanakar Reddy, under pressure over allegations of illegal mining, today paid an unscheduled visit to New Delhi and met senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj and Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, after which they dismissed all the charges against them.
The Bharatiya Janata Party government has adjourned the Karnataka legislative assembly sine die to wade off the opposition protests seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into illegal mining.
