Karnataka polls: Explain tickets to mining scam accused, Congress tells Prime Minister

BENGALURU: Days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Karnataka to campaign for the upcoming election, the Congress has accused him of protecting the accused in the iron ore mining scam. Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala on Tuesday alleged that Modi had become the benefactor, protector and defender of the “Bellary Gang” by ensuring that “puppet CBI” closed the cases of illegal mining. The BJP has given tickets to seven people considered close to mining case accused Gali Janardhana Reddy, including two of his brothers, for the polls.

The Congress alleged that the Union government was misusing the CBI to close investigations in the `35,000-crore scam in Karnataka. Congress took on CBI for choosing to close cases pertaining to illegal mining one by one to let the accused go scot-free. This after the Karnataka government decided to withdraw investigation of the case from the CBI and give it to the Anti-Corruption Bureau, an agency that reports directly to the Chief Minister.

“CBI wrote to Karnataka justifying the closure of the case related to two Goa ports, principally on the flimsy and preposterous ground that ‘iron ore of Goa and Karnataka having been mixed together cannot be identified’. This must be the most fanciful and imaginative explanation ever given by any investigating agency in the world to close an FIR,” Surjewala said. Congress alleged that CBI first stopped investigations into the Goa ports case on June 13, 2017, after which it also closed investigations into the two ports of Karnataka on November 11, 2017, months after BJP national president Amit Shah declared B S Yeddyurappa — one of the accused in the scam — as party’s chief ministerial candidate.

“The government of Goa has permitted CBI to investigate the iron ore originating from Karnataka only which have been exported by the ports in Goa at Mormugao and Panaji. Since many exporters have blended iron ore of Goa origin as well as Karnataka origin before export, it was impossible to segregate data pertaining to iron ore originating from Goa and Karnataka,” the CBI has stated in its reply to Karnataka government. Congress has questioned the intent of BJP in giving tickets to Reddy’s associates accusing Modi of shielding the accused despite the Lokayukta report being based on comprehensive evidence.