Bangalore: The Karnataka government has ordered a probe into the bribery charges against state Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy.
Kumaraswamy and two of his cabinet colleagues have been accused of accepting a bribe of Rs 150 crores from mine owners in Bellary.
Meanwhile, Kumaraswamy on Friday alleged that the previous Cong-JD(S) coalition
government led by N Dharam Singh had sanctioned mining licenses "throwing norms to winds" and some political leaders were the beneficiaries.
"During the 20-month rule of Congress-JDS government, Chief Minister Dharam Singh who was in-charge of mines and geology department granted licences throwing to winds all norms. I will come out with details of the political leader's families who secured licences," Kumaraswamy said.
Breaking his silence three days after BJP MLC Janardhana Reddy retracted his statements on the bribery allegations against Kumaraswamy, the Chief Minister was virtually in a tit-for-tat mood to floor the Opposition Congress.
Kumaraswamy, hitting back at Congress, questioned why Singh invited license seekers for hearing and asserted, "Our government has not done this. Nor we issued any new licence".
Kumaraswamy came down heavily on the Congress for paralysing the House since Friday on what he called a "frivilous issue" and said, "It seems the Opposition wants to prevent me from replying to the bribery charges".
He said the Opposition had made several allegations against him on the basis of a statement made by Reddy and on the strength of reports in the media.
"But the Congress members failed to tender any evidence to substantiate their allegations, despite claims by some of its leaders", he quipped.
Kumaraswamy said he was still in favour of replying to the charges of bribery levelled against him on the floor of the House and added, "If I am denied that opportunity, I am ready to place all before the people of the state on the affairs of mining department and what all happened during the previous governments".
(With inputs from PTI)
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