After Yeddyurappa, Reddy brothers may have to quit Cabinet

New Delhi, July 28: The BJP 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 (OMC) 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.

PTI