CM will quit if charges are proved, says Rajnath

'Victory in recent by-elections a testimony to Party's strength'

There are no doubts about his leadership in the State, and the recent by-elections have once again proved the strength of the BJP, Singh said.  Addressing a press meet, Singh alleged the Congress had been trying to destabilise the BJP government in the State.

Ever since the formation of BJP government, the UPA government at the Centre has been making efforts to dislodge the popular government in the State, using its power, position, and even constitutional positions like that of the Governor.  But it has not learnt any lessons from its repeated failures, the BJP leader said.

It is against democratic norms to destabilise a popular government, he said. “The BJP will not remain a mute spectator if any anti-people, unconstitutional or undemocratic step is taken to topple the government,” he said.

When asked about Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, stating that the party’s senior leader Arun Jaitley and Yeddyurappa were responsible for the political growth of the Reddy brothers, Rajnath Singh said there was no rift between Sushma and Jaitley.

Arun Jaitley was the election in-charge for Karnataka during the Assembly elections. After the elections, while forming the government, he had held talks with the leaders in the State. When there was some problem in the government, the high command was consulted and only as per its instructions, Sushma or Jaitley had held talks with the State leaders, he said.

Clean chit

Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has given a clean chit to the sons of Housing Minister V Somanna, with regard to allegations that they were involved in illegal mining.

No mining in Tumkur

Before leaving for Gadag, Yeddyurappa told reporters here on Saturday morning that no mining activities were taking place in the said land in Tumkur district for the past two years.

When asked about Lokayukta Santosh Hegde’s reported statement about poor response form the State Government regarding the Lokayukta report, Yeddyurappa said he would personally meet Justice Hegde and discuss the issue with him.

“We welcome the CEC’s decision to conduct survey in Bellary district, in connection with the alleged illegal mining there. We are ready to provide the required information to the Supreme Court or the Lokayukta. We are the first State to ban export of iron ore, and those involved in illegal mining will not be protected,” he said.

Reiterating that CET counselling would not be postponed, he warned action against private educational institutions if they resorted to foul play with regard to the admission fees for engineering courses.

“Our government has completed three years, and we are concentrating on villages now. Rural development and irrigation will be given priority. We have not resorted to Operation Lotus. The Congress and JD(S) themselves are responsible for this, as they tried to poach BJP MLAs,” he said.

Rural Development Panchayat Raj Minister Jagadish Shettar, Water Resources Minister Basavaraj Bommai, MLA Veerabhadrappa Halaharavi and others were present.