Minister says he will resign if CM wants him to

Bangalore, May 19 (UNI) Karnataka's Minister Kannada and Culture H S Mahadeva Prasad today said he would demit office if Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy ordered him to do so.

When newsmen sought his reaction on remarks made by Forest Minister Chennigappa, he said he had alredy spoken to the Chief Minister in this regard. Mr Chennigappa had charged that Mr Prasad and Municipal Administration Minister had leaked to the media, the recent cabinet discussion on the proposal to give one crore saplings to a trust run by religious heads and had demanded their resignations.

Answering questions he took exception to Mr Chennigappa's remarks that he was anti-national by opposing the move and said he could not be called so as he hailed from a family of freedom fighters.

Besides, he was educated in the prestigious Ramakrishna Ashram, known for inculcating discipline, he added.

He reiterated that he supported the move to distribute saplings and could not understand the reasons behing Mr Chennigapps's attack.

''I will not oblige him by resigning the post and will definitely do so if the Chief Minister asks me to'', he said.

He denied any political motive behind the cabinet decision to refer the former Minister H Nagappa's killing while he was in custody of forest brigand Veerappan. Mr Nagappa's family had the right to know the reasons behind his killing and hence the government decided to order a CBI probe, he said.

He said the Vaidyanathan Commission, which probed the death, had recommended providing relief to the victims of Veerappan and Nagappa's family members.

The government was initiating the measures accordingly. The commission had also recommended setting up of a monitoring cell in the state Intelligence Wing of the police department. The Cabinet also decided to dismiss a Police Inspector who had failed to resist the forest brigand while Nagappa was abducted, he added.

UNI