Cong blames Yeddyurapppa for Lokayukta phone tap

Holding Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurapppa responsible for the alleged telephone tapping of Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde, Congress on Friday demanded his immediate resignation and a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the episode.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President G Parameshwara and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah argued that without the prior knowledge of the chief minister telephone tapping could not take place.

"It's not possible to tap telephones without the involvement of the chief minister. The chief minister is directly responsible for the telephone tapping. He should own moral responsibility and resign forthwith," Siddaramaiah said.

Parameshwara recalled that the then Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde had resigned in 1988 immediately after a similar telephone tapping scandal was unearthed. They said the party would hold a symbolic protest in front of the Mahatma Gandhi Statue in Bangalore tomorrow to press for the chief minister's resignation and CBI probe into the tapping.

The party would decide on the future course of action on the issue of illegal iron ore mining after studying the second and final report of the Lokayukta to be submitted by him soon. The Congress would take action against party leaders if they were named in the Lokayukta report, they said.

In the wake of the leak of his report into illegal mining, Hegde, a former Supreme Court judge, has said his telephone had been tapped and the leak could have been from there.