Children, not Yeddy, ousted from CM residence

NEW DELHI: It’s time for Yeddyurappa’s version of ‘aranya kand’ in Karnataka. Soon after he returned from Delhi, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa ousted his younger son and daughter from his official residence.

The chief minister at the centre of land scam accusations, is alleged to have denotified land to benefit companies owned by his sons and daughter. The allegations have blunted BJP’s campaign against the UPA government on corruption charges as Yeddyurappa continues to remain chief minister. Ousting his children from his residence seems to be Yeddyurappa’s idea of ensuring probity.

His younger son BY Vijendra and daughter Umadevi, as well as her husband Sohan Kumar, were staying with him at his official residence. His elder son and Shimoga MP BY Raghavendra too will have restricted access to the chief minister’s residence.

“The chief minister asked his son BY Vijendra and daughter Umadevi to shift from his official residence on Wednesday and they obliged him immediately,” an agency report from Bangalore quoted an official attached to chief minister’s secretariat as saying.

BJP’s response to demands for the Karnataka chief minister’s resignation has been to institute an internal inquiry — a move that robbed it moral authority in attacking the government and reduced the sheen of its superlative electoral performance in Bihar.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi lost no time in tearing into the opposition at a rally in Allahabad on Thursday. “I would like to tell all opposition parties that they should refrain from following double standards on the issue of corruption and take effective measures as done by the Congress and the UPA government,” she said. She berated the opposition parties for not having the courage to act against its own leaders facing corruption charges.

The Karnataka chief minister’s move against his children seems like a tacit admission of wrongdoing or impropriety on their part. At the very least, it indicates his discomfort with the role they have been playing in his administration. “I will keep those selfish people and my kin away from the administration. I will give good governance in the coming two years’ tenure,” Yeddyurappa said while participating at a function in Bangalore.

He has directed his secretaries not to be influenced by his family members on any issue and bring any attempted interference to his notice.