Why Karnataka Lokayukta is fuming

Karnataka Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde on Friday expressed unhappiness over Bharatiya Janata Party President Nitin Gadkari's accusation that he was 'acting like an opposition leader', saying he failed to understand why he said so.

"I really fail to understand what is the statement that I made that led Gadkari to say that I am acting like an opposition leader", Hegde, who is often at odds with the BJP government in Karnataka, told media persons in Bengaluru.

"If he thought so, he should not have asked me to withdraw my resignation when he came here last time," Hegde said, adding "However, figuratively I am an opposition leader for all parties in power when they commit a mistake".

The anti-corruption watchdog chief's response came in reply to questions about Gadkari's remarks made during his visit here on December 7 to take stock of the political situation following charges of scams against the B S Yeddyurappa government.

Hegde had resigned earlier after accusing the BJP government of not doing enough to deal with corruption and to arm the Lokayukta with more powers. However, he withdrew the resignation at the intervention of senior BJP leader L K Advani and an appeal by Gadkari.

Admitting that the withdrawal of his resignation earlier this year was a "mistake", Hegde, who has seven more months to go, said "till I retire, there is no question of resignation. I have a lot of work to do. I will complete everything and submit a report before I go".

He said there was no institution, which was free from corruption including judiciary and journalism.

"What is needed is zero tolerance towards corruption in general".

Hegde said he will not join politics after his retirement.

Responding to a query during an interaction with the media here, he said "let me make it clear I will not join politics once I retire as I am not interested in it".