After Yeddy, Reddy brothers may have to go too

The Bharatiya Janata Party's central leadership's decision asking Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa to step down has also put a question mark on the continuance of the Bellary brothers in the Cabinet as they have too have been indicted in the Lokayukta report on illegal mining.

Tourism, Culture and Infrastructure Development Minister G Janaradhan Reddy, his brother Revenue Minister G Karunakar Reddy and close associate and Health Minister B Sriramulu have been indicted in the Lokayukta report.

Sriramulu said the Karnataka unit of BJP will abide by all decisions of its central leadership. The decision of BJP's Parliamentary Board, which decided leadership change in Karnataka and asked Yeddyurappa to resign as chief minister, is final, he said.

Lokayukta Santosh Hegde has stated in his report that the Bellary brothers were engaged in mining in Bellary though they claimed to have no mining interests in Karnataka. The Obalapuram Mining Company was mainly engaged in mining in Andhra Pradesh, especially in the Cuddapah region.

Hegde has also made other charges against the mining barons which make their continuance in the Karnataka government untenable, a BJP leader said.

"Since Yeddyurappa has been asked to put in his papers on the grounds that he has been indicted in the Lokayukta report, the Reddy brothers cannot continue if one were to go by the same line by argument," a central BJP leader said.

The Reddy brothers claim close proximity to Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and even said she is like a mother to them.

However, Swaraj had stated recently that she was opposed to two brothers becoming a part of the same cabinet but the Reddy brothers were appointed at the behest of her Rajya Sabha counterpart Arun Jaitley and others.

The youngest of the Reddy brothers, G Somashekhar Reddy enjoys Minister of State status as Chairperson of the Karnataka Milk Federation. He also has a share in the family's mining business.

Sreeramulu joining the consultations assumes significance as the Reddy brothers had always been associated with the rival camp of Yeddyurappa, who had earlier faced a rebellion led by the mining magnates from Bellary.

Along with Yeddyurappa, the Reddy brothers have been strongly indicted in his findings on illegal mining by Lokayukta Santosh Hegde, which have plunged the state into a political turmoil.

State unit President K S Eshwarappa, whose name is also doing the rounds to succeed Yeddyurappa, said he is confident that the Chief Minister would abide by the central leadership's decision.

Party sources said the BJP leadership assured Yeddyurappa that he would be reinstated if his name is cleared by courts after a "legal fight" vis-a-vis fallout from the Lokayukta report. Earlier on Thursday, when he landed from New Delhi, Yeddyurappa, who completed three years in office in May, appeared downcast and said he would go back to the national capital on July 31.

Yeddyurappa's indictment pertained to violations of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and the Lokayukta also submitted a copy of his report to Governor H R Bhardwaj recommending to him to initiate "further steps".