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Bangalore:
Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa's options to stay on in
power are dwindling, with the Lokayukta naming him in the report
on illegal mining and police beginning to probe corruption cases
against him.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) first chief minister in south
India is known to be a dogged fighter and has come up the hard way
from the ranks. But all those battles would pale in comparison in
the face of hurdles he now faces. Those were battles against other
parties and critics within.
He now has to fight several battles - political, legal, public
perception and dissidence.
The best option for Yeddyurappa is to quit, claim the moral high
ground, however unconvincing the attempt might be, and fight his
way back to re-emerge as the BJP's strongman in Karnataka.
The only other option is to stay and fight - a battle that is sure
to leave his party, more than him, badly bruised nationally and
lead to factions in the state that was hailed as the BJP's gateway
to south India.
His staunch supporters in the party will egg him on to stay on,
pointing out weaknesses in the Lokayukta report on illegal mining.
The report is to be submitted to the government Monday by the
Lokayukta, N. Santosh Hegde, a retired judge of the Supreme Court
whose term as ombudsman ends Aug 2.
Hegde has conceded there is no direct evidence of Yeddyurappa's
involvement in the rampant illegal mining in the state,
particularly in the last 10 years when the global demand for steel
has soared.
Hegde and his team of investigators have, however, gathered
evidence to conclude that Yeddyurappa's sons and son-in-law have
financially benefited from companies involved in illegal mining.
This ambivalent stand of Lokayukta would offer Yeddyurappa the
tempting choice of brazening out the crisis.
That the Lokayukta has also found that Yeddyurappa's predecessor
H.D. Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) had granted a
license to two companies to mine iron ore by flouting rules is
some consolation to BJP.
Yeddyurappa has argued that he has not granted a single licence
since taking power in May 2008, and all the licenses were given by
his Congress and JD-S predecessors.
Hegde has also named Congress Rajya Sabha member and mining baron
Anil Lad for illegal mining.
In an earlier report he submitted in December 2008, the Lokayukta
found Congress chief minister N. Dharam Singh guilty of causing
loss to the state and ordered recovery of over Rs.30 crore from
him.
However, the name of Dharam Singh, who was chief minister of the
Congress-JD-S coalition in 2004-06, was deleted from the report by
the then governor Rameshwar Thakur.
Yeddyurappa and BJP have been taunting Congress over the Dharam
Singh episode and hitting back at JD-S that their leader
Kumaraswamy had granted many mining leases just before demitting
office in 2007.
These factors did help Yeddyurappa to defend himself all these
years from the opposition attacks and also win over his party
central leaders not to force him to quit.
Using the same ruse again may be politically expedient but only
for a short term.
He can exploit the ambivalence in the Lokayukta report of no
direct evidence only if he clears his name from all other graft
and illegal land deal allegations.
As far his kin are concerned, Yeddyurappa has only to follow what
he did when it became public that he had favoured with prime land
in and around Bangalore.
They were made to surrender the land. Likewise, they can now be
made to wind up trusts and clean up businesses, beginning the
exercise by returning the money that Lokayukta says were given by
mining companies.
If Yeddyurappa is not willing to take this option, BJP central
leaders may have little choice but to force it on him.
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