The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : `Include bribe charge in terms of reference of commission'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 27, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

`Include bribe charge in terms of reference of commission'

Staff Reporter

Dharam Singh refers to the allegation made by Janardhan Reddy

N. Dharam Singh

BANGALORE: Asserting that the Congress was ready to face any eventuality, leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly N. Dharam Singh has demanded that the specific allegation of payment of bribe of Rs. 150 crore to those in the Government be included in the terms of reference of the Justice U.L. Bhat Commission of Inquiry.

He told presspersons here on Wednesday that the terms of reference mentioned in the State Gazette notification of July 22 be amended to include the allegation.

The notification referred to several aspects of the alleged illegal mining, but conveniently omitted the core issue of the Rs. 150-crore bribery charge against Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, Minister for Home and Law M.P. Prakash and Minister for Forests C. Chennigappa.

The very purpose of appointing a commission of inquiry would remain incomplete without the inclusion of the bribery charges against the Government, he said.

It was important to note that it was not the Opposition that levelled the allegations against the Government.

The allegations were made by BJP MLC G. Janardhan Reddy outside the legislature and later on the floor of the Legislative Council.

Speaking on the scope of the commission, he said that the Government in its notification had unambiguously stated " ... This commission shall cover the period commencing from January 1, 2000 till date."

The Congress was neither deterred nor encouraged by such things. It had no objection if the Government were to fix the cut-off date of inquiry prior to 2000 or even from 2004.

Defamation suit

On the Government's move to file a defamation suit against Mr. Reddy, the former Chief Minister said that the MLC had stood by his word by filing a defamation case against the Chief Minister and others in a Bellary court. On the contrary, the Government was dillydallying about proceeding against Mr. Reddy for defamation.

Referring to the reported statement of Janata Dal (Secular) president H.D. Deve Gowda, Mr. Singh commented that he should have understood that tolerance was the basic requirement of a coalition government.

All-party meet

Mr. Singh urged the Chief Minister to convene an all-party meeting immediately on the need to convince the Centre about the finality of the Mahajan report.

Mr. Singh's appeal to the Government comes in the light of a delegation led by Chief Minister of Maharashtra Vilasrao Deshmukh meeting the Prime Minister on Tuesday.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka