BJP leaders deny meeting Justice Hegde

BANGALORE: The BJP slipped into denial mode after Lokayukta Justice Santosh N Hegde's revelation that higher education minister V S Acharya, government's special representative to Delhi V Dhananjay Kumar and former state Finance Commission chairman A G Kudagi approached him to lobby for the removal of chief minister B S Yeddyurappa's name from the second report on illegal mining.
Acharya, who was in Udupi, told TOI that he had never met Hegde to seek favours. "I have never gone to Justice Santosh Hegde seeking personal favours. I have known his family for almost 30 years and have been to his house several times. I don't recall any instance where Dhananjay Kumar or A G Kudagi have asked Justice Hegde not to include chief minister Yeddyurappa's name in the mining report," he said.
While Acharya denied meeting Hegde, Kumar was defensive and declined to comment. All he said was: "I could not meet or contact our party leaders. I will consult them and comment on Monday."
Maintaining that the final report was ready and he would show no mercy in revealing the names of corrupt officials and politicians, Hegde on Saturday said Kudagi had, two months ago, called him and said both Acharya and Kumar were coming to his house. "We were having coffee when Dhananjay Kumar raised the issue and requested me not to name the CM in the report," he said.
The report was expected to be submitted by May-end, but will be submitted next week, Hegde clarified.