The Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) on Wednesday asked former Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and two private companies to file their responses in a week on the bribery allegations involved in the mining cases against them.
Sources suggested that the further explanations sought by the CEC, which is examining whether the case against Mr Yeddyurappa should be referred to the CBI, would delay its final pronouncement, which was otherwise expected on April 13. In political circles, it has sent a message that the Lingayat strongman will have to wait more to get the much-awaited decision from the BJP central leadership on his reinstatement to the office of Chief Minister displacing Sadananda Gowda.
The party's national general secretary in charge of Karnataka, Dharmendra Pradhan, had recently made it clear during his visit to the state that the central leadership would take a decision on the matter only after the CEC came out with its order. The CEC on Wednesday examined the earlier submissions made by Mr Yeddyurappa and the two companies, Jindal Steel and Adani Enterprises. Mr Yeddyurappa in his last submission on Monday had objected to a CBI enquiry into the case saying that the petitioner in the case, Samaj Parivartan Samudaya, an NGO, had "chosen to hurl wild and baseless allegations against (him) without even ascertaining the basic facts".