I had no role in rise of Bellary brothers: Sushma Swaraj

Leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, often accused of proximity with the notorious Reddy brothers of Karnataka, has strongly denied the allegations, saying she had no role in the political rise of the mining barons.

Instead, in an interview with Outlook magazine made public on Friday, she has sought to turn the guns on her BJP party colleagues Arun Jaitely, Venkiah Naidu, Anant Kumar and Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, saying they were the ones who may have helped their political rise.

When G Janardhan and G Karunakar Reddy - known along with Somashekhar Reddy as the Bellary brothers because of their iron ore mining interests in that district of the sate - were made ministers, Arun Jaitley was in charge of the state, Yeddyurappa was chief minister and Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar were there as central observers.

Outlook magazine released an audio recording of Sushma's comments to this effect.

"I have had no hand in giving encouragement to the Bellary brothers. I have not helped them politically, or to increase their clout," she is heard saying in Hindi on the interview tape.

She said that it was the earlier Congress government in Karnataka that made the brothers rich - through illegal mining activities, as is widely believed - although the BJP did play a role in making them politically important as well.