Nagpur, Sep 6: BJP President Nitin Gadkari today held closed door meeting with Karnataka Chief Minister D V Saddananda Gowda here in the backdrop of the arrest of party strongman and former minister G Janardhan Reddy in connection with the illegal mining scam.
The meeting, which took place at Gadkari's residence lasted for almost two hours. It was also attended by Gowda's predecessor B S Yeddyurappa.
The party downplayed the arrest of the Reddys and accused the Congress “of using the CBI for unleashing political vendetta.”
“We discussed the arrest of Reddys but its a legal issue now,” Dharmendra Pradhan, BJP National General Secretary and Karnataka in-charge said declining to comment further.
“Indeed, the meeting with Gadkariji was regarding the by-poll in Kopal in Karnataka and other political developments after the new CM took over,” he told reporters here.
Pradhan said the party did not compromise on corruption and previous political developments and brought a change of guard (in Karnataka), which are indications that it was serious on graft issues.
He said Opposition Leader Sushma Swaraj has also offered to undergo probe by any agency on allegations of her alleged links and patronage to the Reddy brothers.
To a question on Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh's allegations against Swaraj, he said the BJP was not taking him seriously.
On alleged links of some BJP leaders in the murder of RTI activist Shehla Masood in Bhopal, Pradhan denied involvement of any of them in the killing.
Janardhan Reddy and Managing Director of Obalapuram Mining Company B V Srinivas Reddy were arrested by CBI yesterday after searches at their premises allegedly led to seizure of over 30 kg of gold and more than Rs 4.5 crore in cash. PTI
