Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa will have to battle as many as six complaints of corruption and criminal offences,covering 18 alleged instances of wrongdoing in the past four to five years,according to indications provided to a special Lokayukta court by prosecution advocates,who placed the first set of two complaints in the court on Saturday. Since no more than three offences can be listed in one complaint,senior advocate C H Hanumantharaya,who is attempting to prosecute Yeddyurappa on behalf of the two advocates given the sanction to do so by Governor H R Bhardwaj has informed the court that four more complaints entailing 12 offences would be filed on Monday. Special Lokayukta court judge C B Hipparagi is yet to decide on whether the complaints are maintainable,despite the sanction order of the Governor indicating that a prima facie case has been made out for according sanction for prosecution. for the offences alleged. The court has asked the complaining advocates to argue their case on Monday to allow a decision on whether the Lokayukta police can be asked to investigate the offences on the basis of the complaints. While Yeddyurappa,who flew to Delhi today for consultations with senior leaders,was keen on moving the high court,he seemed to have been convinced otherwise. The BJP,sources said,wants to fight the Governors move granting sanction to prosecute him politically projecting it as bias against its government. Yeddyurappa held consultations with senior lawyers too. Caveats have been filed by the prosecuting lawyers in the Karnataka High Court seeking to be heard in the event of the Chief Minister filing any writ petition against the Governors order. In one of the two complaints filed on Saturday,Yeddyurappa,his sons B Y Raghavendra (an MP) and B Y Vijayendra (a lawyer),son-in-law R Sohan Kumar and close associate S N Krishnaiah Setty (a minister sacked by Yeddyurappa following a land scam) have been accused of criminal breach of trust,cheating and forgery,apart from corruption. Among the offences outlined in the first complaint against Yeddyurappa and his family members is the denotification of 1.12 acres of government land just outside Bangalore by the Chief Minister in favour of his sons and the sale of one acre of this land for Rs 20 crore to the South West Mining Company,a Bellary firm. The original compensation for the land when it was being acquired from local farmers by the Bangalore Development Authority in 2003 was fixed at Rs 17,18,329. Yeddyurappa and his family are accused of making a pecuniary gain of Rs 19.60 crore in this deal,as per the complaint. The total pecuniary gain made by the Chief Minister and his family in the course of the alleged land related offences amounts to over Rs 150 crore,as per calculations from the complaint filed before the Governor. Yeddyurappa has said he will fight out the cases politically and legally. Sources in the BJP said that Yeddyurappa had refused to resign in the short term over the complaints against him but has shown some inclination for a model adopted by Lalu Prasad Yadav in Bihar following the fodder scam by allowing only a very trusted associate to succeed him. The Chief Minister,sources said,had floated the name of north Karnataka strongman Umesh Katti a close associate and a fellow Lingayat,who joined the BJP from the JD(S) barely three years ago as a chief minister candidate in the event of his own resignation. A second contender from within the BJP is Law Minister Suresh Kumar,who also enjoys Yeddyurappas trust,has a clean but low profile and has roots in the RSS. The BJP plans to meet President Pratibha Patil seeking recall of Bhardwaj on Monday. Sources said senior leader L K Advani may himself lead the delegation. Yeddyurappa wanted to meet P Chidambaram as well,but said he could not because the Union Home Minister was not in town. I wanted to explain the attitude of the Governor. I want to explain all the things. He may not be aware of all the details. The Governors action is an insult to the people of Karnataka,to the Chief Minister and to the democratic system, he said. The Governor,the CM said,was trying to oust the BJP government to install a Congress regime.
