Yeddyurappa mum, Eshwarappa vocal on ex-minister issue

Former minister Halappa is innocent till proven guilty and the BJP will stand by him, party state president Eshwarappa said on Wednesday.  Speaking to Deccan Herald, Eshwarappa said the party will initiate action against Halappa only if proven guilty. “We still believe that he has been made a scapegoat in a political conspiracy. The CID investigation is on and we are confident that Halappa will come out clean”, he said.

Eshwarappa denied reports that RSS had issued a gag order to the party from publicly supporting Halappa. Earlier, in the day, Chief Minister Yeddyurappa met top RSS functionaries and discussed the recent political developments with them.

Yeddyurappa, replying to a question, said he would not react on Halappa case till the investigation was over. When his attention was drawn to media reports that Halappa went incommunicado after he met the CM at HAL on Monday, Yeddyurappa sported a smile and remained mum.

In Mangalore Home Minister V S Acharya said that there is no need to hand over Haratal Halappa case to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The Criminal Investigating Department (CID) can do a better job,” he added.

Terming the MLA Chittaranjan case handled by CBI as “not satisfactory,”  Acharya said that the CID in the State will do proper investigation in the case. “The Opposition in the State is interested in making Halappa case a big issue in view of the ensuing Grama Panchayat elections,” he said and added: “But it will not damage BJP’s image.”