Nitin Gadkari holds meeting with K`taka leaders

Nitin Gadkari held closed door meeting with Karnataka CM DV Saddananda Gowda in the backdrop of the arrest of G Janardhan Reddy.

Nagpur: BJP President Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday
held closed door meeting with Karnataka Chief Minister DV
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 BS 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 BV 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

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