Not afraid of any probe into phone tapping: Kumaraswamy
Bengaluru, Aug 19: Former Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Monday said he was not afraid of any probe into the phone tapping allegations, as he accused the BJP government of running a "transfer business" in the State.
The JDS leader's statement triggered a war of words with chief minister B Yeddiyurappa's son B Y Vijayendra saying it was not appropriate to make "baseless allegations."
Yediyurappa, however, said he was not going to react to the charges.
"Why do you want to put words in my mouth? May God bless him. The whole world knows what he has done..," he told reporters.
It all started with Kumaraswamy's purported statement on Sunday that Yediyurappa had left his sons to run the 'transfer businesses' as reported by some news channels.
Taking a serious note of it, Vijayendra tweeted the clipping of Kumaraswamy's statement as it appeared in a Kannada news channel, which read that Yediyurappa has "let his son loose to run the transfer business."
"...You cannot pass the buck on somebody else for your deeds. Stop trying to mislead the people through falsehood just because you are scared of the CBI probe into the telephone tapping case," he said.
Vijayendra also tweeted links to news reports that claimed the then PWD minister H D Revanna had transferred 700 officials on a single day last year when Kumaraswamy was the chief minister.
Later, speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, Vijayendra slammed Kumaraswamy for making "baseless allegations" against him and his family.
"It is not appropriate to make baseless allegations against me and our family. It does not befit his stature," Vijayendra said.
He challenged Kumaraswamy to make the facts public if he has evidence to back his claim.
"People have seen how during your tenure governance had collapsed due to the involvement of your family. People of the state have seen how 700 staff in the PWD were given promotion and transferred," Vijayendra said.
Reacting, Kumarasawmy cautioned chief minister Yediyurappa to keep his children "within their limits."
He alleged that the chief ministers residence has turned into a "transfer market" these days.
Speaking about the governments intention to conduct a CBI probe into the alleged phone tapping, Kumaraswamy said he was not scared of any probe because he did not do anything wrong.
However, he asked the chief minister not to fix innocent people only to take revenge on him.
Days after phone tapping allegations during the previous Congress-JDS coalition government surfaced, Yediyurappa on Sunday said he will order a CBI probe citing demands by several political leaders including from the Congress.
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LPG hoarders nabbed with 74 cylinders in Delhi's Mahipalpur
New Delhi (PTI): Three men were arrested in southwest Delhi's Mahipalpur for allegedly hoarding LPG cylinders to sell them at a premium price, police said on Sunday.
They were identified as Krishna, Dinesh Sahu, and Mithilesh, aged 33, 46, and 39, all from Bihar but living in Delhi.
The police seized 74 LPG cylinders – 70 domestic and four commercial - along with a transport vehicle and refilling equipment in the raid on Saturday, an officer said.
"The trio was engaged in illegally storing LPG cylinders and supplying them to local customers without bills or licences. They allegedly used metal pipes to transfer gas from multiple filled cylinders into empty ones to manipulate supply and increase margins," the officer said.
"During the search, a large number of LPG cylinders, weighing machines and gas transfer equipment were found. The accused failed to produce any valid documents for storage or distribution of the cylinders," the officer said.
Among the recovered items were 54 filled and 16 used domestic cylinders, three filled and one used commercial cylinder, an electronic weighing scale, two hanging weighing machines and equipment used for refilling gas.
A case has been registered under relevant sections of the Essential Commodities Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at Vasant Kunj North police station.
The three have been living in Delhi for over two decades and were allegedly involved in the illegal LPG trade in the Mahipalpur area for the past three years, the police said.
