'I don't want to react to it. I don't know the details. I will comment on the report after the Supreme Court takes a final decision,' the Karnataka chief minister said.
Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa today rejected the opposition demand for action against his ministerial colleagues and mining magnates Reddy brothers who have been accused of engaging in illegal mining by a Supreme Court appointed committee.
"I don't want to react to it. I don't know the details. I will comment on the report after the Supreme Court takes a final decision," he told reporters when asked to comment on the report submitted by the Central Empowered Committee (CEC).
When his attention was drawn to the demand of opposition parties, including by KPCC President G Parameshwara, for the resignation of Reddy brothers, Yeddyurappa shot back, "I don't agree with Parameshwara. How can there be an action even before the Supreme Court verdict?"
Yeddyurappa said "whether it is Yeddyurappa or anybody, they can't give final decision and it is only the Supreme Court which can do it."
Congress spokesperson VS Ugrappa alleged that the loss to the state exchequer due to the illegal mining by companies owned by the three Bellary ministers from 2005-06 to 2009-10 is more than Rs3,154 crore.
"The chief minister is protecting these ministers probably because he got an indirect share from them (from illegal mining," he alleged.
Parameshwara said though the Congress had been saying that there had been illegal mining in Bellary and the Reddy brothers were involved in it, the government, chief minister and the state BJP President "kept on denying it".
"Our demand is that the chief minister should resign immediately. He mislead the people, lied to the people," Parameshwara said.
"The ministers (G Karunakara Reddy, G Janardhana Reddy and B Sriramulu) should immediately quit. Otherwise, the chief minister should take their resignation."
He demanded CBI investigation into the "entire episode" of illegal mining, noting that Andhra Pradesh government has already ordered such a probe. "What's preventing Karnataka government from handing over the case to the CBI?" Parameshwara asked.
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