Fresh polls needed in Karnataka, says Moily

New Delhi, Aug 1 (ANI): Corporate Affairs Minister M Veerappa Moily on Monday said that fresh polls were needed in Karnataka following the resignation of chief minister B S Yeddyurappa.

"The right course of action is, if there is any grace left with BJP, they will have to step down and ask for a fresh elections," Moily told reporters outside Parliament House.

"Governance is already a casualty under B S Yeddyurappa and BJP. Whether Yeddyurappa continues or somebody else continues, governance is already dead and gone," he added.

Yeddyurappa had resigned on Sunday as Chief Minister after the report by state Lokayukta Justice (retired) N Santosh Hegde named him in the illegal mining scam.

Apart from Yeddyurappa, mining barons Reddy brothers and several other influential leaders are reportedly involved in illegal mining in Karnataka as per Lokayukta report.

Justice Hegde on Wednesday confirmed that Lokayukta registrar Moosa Kunhi Nayar Moole had submitted the illegal mining report to the state Chief Secretary S V Ranganath.

Justice Hegde also confirmed that the report indicts Chief Minister Yeddyurappa, members of his family and a trust run by them, and added that in the four-year period between 2006 and 2010, the loss to the Karnataka exchequer from illegal mining was to the tune of Rs.16, 085 crores. (ANI)