ENARADA, Bangalore, November 22, 2013:
Minister of State for Information and Infrastructure Development Santosh Lad resigned today over Multi–crore mining scam.
The resignation of mining baron saved the congress government from the possible threat from opposition parties to disrupt the assembly session scheduled from November 25 at Belgaum.
As the pressure mounted for his resignation from diferent quarters, Santhosh Lad was in Delhi for the last two days to meet National Congress Leaders. After returning from Delhi , he met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and tendered his resignation at 8pm.
“I have tendered my resignation to the chief minister in view of the allegations of illegal mining against me and my company and to avoid any embarrassment to our government,” Lad told reporters later.
Ultimately he had to resign following the charges made by whistle-blower S.R. Hiremath of Samaja Parivartanan Samudayaa, an NGO, on whose petition the apex court ordered the CBI probe.
It can be recalled that political parties in the state BJP, JD-S and KJP were demanding Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to sack Santhosh Lad from the Ministry. But CM kept protecting him till today saying there were not enough evidences.
By asking Santhosh Lad to resign, CM has made it tough for other contenders for the Minsterial bearth aspirants like D.K.Shivakumar and Roshan Baig, as they also have allegations against them.
