"Just because I said even our party members are involved in illegal mining, why do you have to point to the Reddy brothers? They are not involved in illegal mining," he told reporters here.
Yeddyurappa said Monday at a public meeting in Mandya, about 80 km from here, that members of all political parties were indulging in illegal mining in the state.
"That includes our party also," he said, expressing regret for not being able to prevent illegal mining in the state.
"Illegal mining has been taking place in Bellary, Chitradurga and Tumkur districts, which are rich in minerals. My government has banned iron ore exports. Some people upset by this even tried to destabilise my government," he said at the meeting. Denying that he was referring to the Reddy brothers when he said "some people from our party are also involved in illegal mining", Yeddyurappa Tuesday declined to name the people from the BJP who were into this business.
The Reddy brothers, Tourism Minister G. Janardhana and his elder brother Revenue Minister G. Karunakara, are rich iron ore miners from Bellary in north Karnataka. They had almost brought down the Yeddyurappa ministry in October-November last year.