Did nothing wrong,why should I quit: Yeddyurappa

Talking to the media in the northern Karnataka town of Hubli,Yeddyurappa said,”Why should I (resign)? There is no offence from my side. I have not committed any mistake.”

The Chief Minister said a retired Supreme Court judge would conduct the probe into denotification of land since 1994 and he would be asked to submit his report within six months.

He said the party fought elections in Karnataka under his leadership and he would complete his term. If the party wants to fight the next elections under someone else’s leadership,”I am going to support (that person) fully”.

Yeddyurappa said he was ready to quit politics if the judicial inquiry finds he has committed anything wrong.

The Chief Minister said he would provide to BJP MPs all information on allegations against him,as well as those pertaining to the alleged “scams” of Devegowda and his son and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy.

“There should be discussion in detail in Parliament. It should not be like shouting and running away,” he said as he accused opposition Congress and JD-S of targeting him to cover up their “scams”.

On Opposition demand that he quit till the inquiry is completed,Yeddyurappa asked: “How many chief ministers facing allegations in the country have resigned” and asserted that charges against him are “baseless” and have been levelled to create confusion ahead of taluk and zilla panchayat elections.

The chief minister claimed Devegowda told the BJP MPs that he (the former Prime Minister) would “cooperate” and not “create problems” in the next two and a half years if Yeddyurappa is removed and termed it as “shameful behaviour”.

“Our party MPs will pay no heed to him (Devegowda). BJP central leadership has confidence in me”,he said.

“I want to tell Devegowda that since Independence,no family has committed such an amount of betrayal and cheating as his (family). He meets (Congress party president) Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister stealthily to cover up his scams,” he said and accused JD-S of entering into alliance “directly and indirectly”.

The chief minister vowed to “finish” JDS. “National party BJP and national party Congress should remain in Karnataka. JD-S should be destroyed without any trace. JD-S should be uprooted. That’s my aim. That’s my resolve”.

“Even if ten Devegowdas come,he can’t destablise Yeddyurappa”,he said,adding the “piece works” awarded during Devegowda’s tenure as chief minister would also come under the purview of the judicial inquiry.

“Henceforth,my fight will not be against Congress; it will be against father-son (Devegowda and Kumaraswamy) who have ruined and destroyed the state,” Yeddyurappa said.

Yeddyurappa said there was nothing wrong in allotment of two acres each by Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board to his two sons and a daughter to set up industries.

Though it was secured legally,they “surrendered” the land to save him from “embarrassment and discomfiture” because of the allegations levelled by Congress and JD-S,he said.

“I can show 1000 examples of Congress and JD-S leaders getting 10 acres,20,30,40 acres from KIADB and setting up industries,” he charged,accusing the two opposition parties of trying to project as if he has committed a crime.

Yeddyurappa also said that in 99 out of 100 cases,Lok Sabha members and MLAs secured a Bangalore Development Authority site here under ‘G’ category (Chief Minister’s discretionary quota),despite already having one.

“As Chief Minister,I have allotted BDA sites to all MPs with an exception of one or two”,he said,adding,his son and Lok Sabha member B Y Raghavendra “surrendered” the site as he was hurt by opposition allegations targeting his father.

Yeddyurappa accused Congress and JD-S of trying to make allegations against him a big issue in Delhi (at the central level) “while doing nothing here (in Karnataka).”

He said while he so far concentrated on Karnataka and development and welfare projects in the state,he would also adopt a similar method (to be in Delhi to counter such charges). “I will also go and sit in Delhi. I know better than them,” he added.

The Chief Minister rejected suggestions that some leaders within BJP were gunning for him. “I don’t think so. I don’t believe that. All are one and united. Those reports (that some wanted his removal) are rumours”.