Karnataka Governor H.R. Bhardwaj said Thursday that Lok Ayukta head N. Santosh Hegde had told him he would not withdraw his resignation.
“I told him we cannot permit you to go. He said he will not withdraw it,” Bhardwaj told reporters here on the margins of a Bharat Scouts and Guides function.
“It is pending with me,” he said on the resignation Hegde, a retired Supreme Court judge, submitted to him Wednesday frustrated at the government’s indifference to his suggestions on giving more teeth to the anti-corruption panel.
“Justice N. Santosh Hegde is an old friend of mine. I tried to convince him not to resign. But he did not yield to my request,” Bhardwaj, who has often been critical of the government functioning, said.
The governor said “his resignation should not be allowed. The government must show some gesture. People of Karnataka need him to work for the state.”
“Government should persuade him to stay back if they want him to continue. He seems to have resigned in agony and under frustration. I have done whatever I could do,” he said.
On the alleged illegal mining by Reddy brothers, who are ministers, the governor said he had taken it seriously and hence “reported the matter to the Election Commission and the president.”
Bhardwaj has forwarded to the Election Commission a petition by a Congress leader that Tourism Minister G. Janardhana Reddy and his elder brother and Revenue Minister G. Karunakara Reddy should be disqualified as members of the legislature as they had amassed huge wealth by illegal mining.
The Reddy brothers twice ignored Bhardwaj’s summons to meet him in person to give their response to the allegations. They had sent their lawyers both times.
Bhardwaj forwarded the petition to the poll panel on June 3.
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