Union ministers involved in illegal mining: Yeddyurappa

Defending Karnataka's stand on illegal iron ore mining in the state, chief minister B S Yeddyurappa on Friday launched a vitriolic counter-attack on the Congress Party, not just in the state where it is in opposition, but also at the centre, accusing the union government of colluding with the mining lobby.

Yeddyurappa threatened to expose the involvement of several Congress leaders, including several ministers at the centre and in other states, in illegal mining.

''Grease the palms of people at the centre and you will get a mining licence. The union government is hand in glove with those engaged in illegal mining. I will expose all this if the centre refuses to ban the export of iron ore. I will meet the prime minister soon with more documents to convince him of the need to ban export of iron ore,'' he said.

Addressing a press conference in Bangalore, he however he refused to divulge any names. A separate jail would have to be opened for these VIP inmates when the mining probe was completed and their involvement was exposed, he added. ''I will provide all the documents to the Lokayukta and the court to bring them to book,'' he said.

Yeddyurappa cited the cases of state-owned Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Ltd, whose application seeking licence for a captive iron ore mining was turned down, and Kudremukh Iron Ore Ltd, which has been trying for an alternative captive mine after the closure of its mine in Chikmagalur district. ''These two companies have been denied licences because they cannot pay the kickbacks. I will take up the case of these two companies and try to get mining licences for them,'' he said.

Yeddyurappa reiterated that his government will not allow export of iron ore at any cost and issue mining leases only for value addition. ''I will go up to the Supreme Court to make the stand of my government clear and continue to impose the ban,'' he said.

He said in the last two years, the BJP government in the state had not issued any fresh mining leases, but renewed some of the old ones as recommended by the previous governments. ''Once the centre clears, it becomes inevitable for the state government to issue necessary notifications,'' the chief minister added.