Amidst speculation to the contrary, Karnataka CM Yeddyurappa said today that there was no question of the Bellary Reddy brothers being dismissed from the cabinet.
Amidst speculation that the Bharatiya Janata Party has asked the owners of the Obulapuram Mining Company and cabinet ministers in Karnataka, Gali Janardhan Reddy and Gali Karunakar Reddy, to put in their papers, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Sunday said that there was no question of the brothers being dismissed.
Talking to media persons in New Delhi, Mr. Yeddyurappa said that the question of their dismissal would arise only if there is any evidence of any wrongdoing by the Bellary Reddy brothers.
The Karnataka Chief Minister virtually gave a clean chit to his embattled ministers by saying that there were no charges against them, and put the onus of getting the brothers removed on the main opposition Congress party by telling it to approach the High Court against the brothers.
Meanwhile, BJP sources still maintain that the Gali brothers have been told to resign in order to save the party's image in the state.
Sources claim that Mr. Gali Janardhan Reddy, who met senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj earlier in the day, was asked to resign.
The BJP government in Karnataka is under intense pressure to dismiss the Gali brothers, with mounting allegations of their involvement in illegal mining of iron ore along the Andhra-Karnataka border.
Mr. Yeddyurappa is seen to be wary of dismissing them because of the immense clout the brothers command in the Karnataka BJP. The Karnataka CM was forced to drop his staunch ally Shobha Karandlaje from his cabinet under intense pressure from the Reddy brothers.