BANGALORE: Former IT/BT and Housing Minister Katta Subramanya Naidu has become the first casualty of the land scam charges levelled against Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa’s government.
A day after Katta and his corporator son, Jagadish Naidu, were chargesheeted by the Lokayukta police in a KIADB scam, Katta Sr tendered his resignation to Yeddyurappa on Friday afternoon. Later in the evening, his resignation was accepted by Governor H R Bharadwaj.
Katta is the third minister to quit the Yeddyurappa Cabinet. While Halappa was the first to go on rape charges, Ramachandregowda had to quit following allegations of irregularities in the recruitment of class 3 employees to the Mysore and Hassan Medical Colleges. Jagadish, who is also an accused in the scam, is expected to follow his father’s footsteps and submit his resignation anytime now.
Announcing the resignation of his trusted lieutenant, Yeddyurappa said that Katta chose to resign in order to facilitate an impartial inquiry into the allegations against him and his family.
According to sources in the BJP, Katta was reluctant to step down while taking shelter under the party’s decision to give a fresh lease of life to Yeddyurappa, who is also facing similar charges. However, mounting pressure from the party high command forced the minister to resign, the sources added.
Immediately after resigning, Katta and his son went into hiding fearing arrest by the Lokayukta police. They even remained incommunicado most part of the day by keeping their mobile phones switched off.
However, later in the day Katta spoke to a TV channel over phone and said that he had decided to quit to ensure free trial of cases against him. He also vouched full cooperation to the anti-corruption watchdog.