Karnataka Chief Minister now faces defamation petition

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy is now facing a criminal defamation petition for terming as “insane” the suspended BJP legislator, who had earlier accused him of collecting a bribe of Rs 1.5 billion from the mining lobby in the iron-ore rich Bellary district in the State.

Reddy’s counsel Venkateshwarulu told reporters that the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) court in Bellary had admitted a criminal defamation suit filed by client against Kumaraswamy and two of his cabinet colleagues. The court has been posted for hearing on July 28.

The defamation petition had been filed by Reddy after the Chief Minister and two of his cabinet colleagues described the suspended BJP legislator as “insane”. “The criminal defamation petition has been filed Kumaraswamy, Home Minister M P Prakash and Forest Minister C Chennigappa, all of whom had said that my client (Reddy) had lost his mental balance and hence was making such baseless allegations”, Venkateshwarulu said.

Meanwhile, Reddy told reporters that he had been accused of being “mad, insane and mentally ill” by no less than the State’s Chief Minister and two of his cabinet colleagues. “I challenge them or any doctor to prove that I am mentally ill or suffering from any of these ailments. I have filed the case to protect my self respect and the honour of my family”, Reddy said.

Reddy has chosen to stick to his stand that the Chief Minister and two of his cabinet colleagues were involved in the collection of bribe amounting to Rs 1.5 billion from the mining lobby in Bellary district. “I will produce the evidence when a CBI probe is ordered. I will not submit the evidence before others including the judicial commission instituted by the State Government”, the suspended BJP legislator clarified.

Meanwhile, the omission of the Rs 1.5 billion bribery charges against Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy from the terms of reference laid down for judicial inquiry into the mining scandal in Karnataka has sparked off a fresh row in the State.

The Opposition Congress staged a demonstration in front of Mahatma Gandhi statue in Bangalore yesterday seeking a CBI probe into the mining scandal. Irked by the absence of any specific reference to the Rs 1.5 billion pay-off to the Chief Minister by the mining lobby in the terms of reference laid down for the judicial probe headed by former Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court U L Bhat, the Congress party accused the State Government to trying fool the public.

The brief of the U L Bhat Commission of Inquiry, appointed after much brouhaha over the bribery charges against the Chief Minister, is to merely inquire into illegal mining activities in three districts of Karnataka – Bellary, Tumkur and Chitradurga.

“The judicial inquiry is just an eye-wash. They want to fool the people of the State by ordering a judicial inquiry. We want a CBI probe into the scandal. A judicial inquiry does not necessarily lead to prosecution of the guilty whereas as CBI probe can”, Kharge said.