Congress questions Singapore connection of Janardhana Reddy

The Congress has come out with more ammunition in its efforts to dislodge tourism minister G Janardhana Reddy, as party senior leaders on Wednesday accused the Bellary strongman of operating a trading company from Singapore which required him to swear his allegiance to that country.

Senior Congress leaders VS Ugrappa and MLC KC Kondaiah, who released a set of documents from the Singapore government, said, “The GLA Trading International Pte Ltd registered in Singapore is headed by Reddy as the Indian director. The company has been floated to sell the iron ore mined at the Reddy-owned Obulapuram Mining Company in international market with under-valued invoice documentation, thus evading tax and violating Foreign Exchange Regulation Act.”

The leaders said that it was yet another case of conflict of interest against Reddy, who as a minister has taken an oath to protect the resources of the state. “So Reddy should be dismissed from the cabinet. The Election Commission should disqualify him from being a member of the assembly,” Ugrappa said.

Ugrappa accused chief minister, BS Yeddyurappa, of misleading the state on issuance of new mining licences since the BJP government came to power. Releasing a list of 15 companies which were said to have been issued licences for mining in 2008 and 2009, he said, “The CM has misled the state. He and BJP national leaders Sushma Swaraj and Venkaiah Naidu are getting a cut in the mining loot.”

The Congress leaders also questioned the propriety of Reddy’s presence at the meeting chaired by the CM on Tuesday to curb illegal mining.

“Yeddyurappa deserves an Oscar for his acting skills to mislead the people on stopping illegal mining,” Ugrappa said.