In a major legal triumph for BJP state strongman B.S. Yeddyurappa, the Karnataka high court on Wednesday declared as “bad in law” a chapter in the Lokayukta report that indicted him on illegal mining and caused his exit as chief minister.
It quashed the FIR against him, making hopes soar in the former chief minister’s camp of an immediate reinstatement, belied later in the evening by Delhi which would rather he took a lead role in the upcoming March 18 bypoll and Assembly elections in 2013.
The high court set aside the sanction of governor H.R. Bhardwaj to prosecute Mr Yeddyurappa and quashed the Lokayukta police FIR, holding, “There is no case which is made out against Yeddyurappa under provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act or any other law.” It added, “There is no material produced by the Lokayukta to establish that the petitioner has done any favour to any of the alleged companies during the period 2007-2010.”
The verdict saw BSY quietly accelerate efforts to regain the post of CM that he had vacated with a source close to him saying he wanted to be “reinstated immediately”.