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Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership of patronising illegal mining in Karnataka, the Congress on Thursday demanded the resignation of Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.
With the state Lokayukta report indicting the state government over the issue, Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said, "Yeddyurappa must immediately resign from his post".
"All these things are already in the public domain but now the Lokayukta has indicted the chief minister and other ministers in the state government," he said.
Lokayukta Santosh Hegde has recommended a probe into Yeddyurappa's role and that of his four ministerial colleagues with regard to illegal mining in the state.
The Congress spokesperson also questioned the "silence" of senior BJP leaders over the ongoing "illegal mining" in Karnataka.
"It is now evident that illegal mining in Karnataka is going on with the consent of top central BJP leaders and they are aware of the chief minister's involvement in the whole episode. Without their consent, senior party leaders from the state like Dhananjay Kumar could not have gone to meet the Lokayukta to request him to delete Yeddyurappa's name from the report," he alleged.
The report, which is to be submitted soon, has also sought an investigation into the role of former chief minister and Janata Dal - Secular leader H D Kumaraswamy and Congress's Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Anil Lad.
Sources have said that the four ministers who were named in the report are G Janardhana Reddy, G Karunakara Reddy, B Sriramulu, all hailing from the mineral-rich Bellary district, and V Somanna.