By IANS,
Bangalore : Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa Monday said he would resign from his post and retire from politics if allegations that he tapped the state Lokayukta’s telephone were proved right.
“I will resign as chief minister and also retire from politics if it is proved that I am involved in tapping the phone of the Lokayukta,” the chief minister told a press conference here.
He said he had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P. Chidambaram to set up a committee to probe Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde’s charge that his telephone was being tapped for three or four months.
Yeddyurappa said he had suggested that the committee should consist of External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and former prime minister and Janata Dal-Secular president H.D. Deve Gowda as well as the ombubsman himself.
He said he considered Hegde’s telephone tapping the “most shocking development” of his three-year rule. Yeddyurappa became chief minister in May 2008.
Hegde is to submit his report on the illegal mining operations in the state Wednesday. Contents of the report have been leaked to the media and Hegde suspects telephone tapping could be the source for the leak.