Congress decries Yeddyurappa's clean chit to Reddy brothers

Congress on Sunday decried Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa's stout defence of the controversial Reddy brothers - Janardhana and Karunakara - and rejection of all demands for their removal from his cabinet on charges of being involved in illegal mining and export of iron ore.

Within hours of the CM's clean chit and the brothers' meeting with senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj here, the party called the development an "incentive" to corrupt ways.

"It is shocking but we are not surprised," Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said. "That the BJP and its chief minister are fully complicit and collusive is now proved beyond doubt."

He claimed that the CM at first had allowed 35 lakh tonnes of iron ore worth Rs 2,500 crore to vanish without raising any questions. "They fiercely opposed a CBI probe and initiated no criminal prosecution on their own," he said. Singhvi claimed that the Yeddyurappa government had stalled the state Lokayukta from proceeding against the brothers before giving them a good-conduct certificate.

"This is nothing but modern-day goonda raj in Karnataka," he said. "The BJP has made us believe that the protector could indeed turn into a predator" Singhvi said, adding that lawlessness was prevailing in the state under BJP rule.