BANGALORE: Fearing tampering of evidence, the Congress Wednesday demanded the immediate arrest of jailed mining baron G. Janardhana Reddy's brother G. Karunaraka Reddy and associate B. Sriramulu."Karunakara Reddy and Sriramulu are influential people and if they are not arrested immediately all documents on Reddy empire will not reach Central Bureau of Investigation," leader of opposition in the assembly Siddaramaiah of the Congress told reporters here.Janardhana, owner of the Obulapuram Mining Company, was arrested by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Sep 5 for illegal mining in Andhra Pradesh and is now being interrogated by the agency in Hyderabad.He was the tourism minister in the Bharatiya Janata Party government led by B.S. Yeddyurappa while his elder brother Karunakara was revenue minister and associate Sriramulu handled the health portfolio.All three lost their ministerships after Yeddyurappa quit July 31 over graft charges in the illegal mining scam."Though Reddy has been arrested for OMC's illegal mining activity in Andhra Pradesh, it has a bearing on Bellary (Reddys' political base) and Karnataka," Siddaramaiah said."Janardhana Reddy's kin and associates should be arrested immediately and interrogated to bring out the truth," he said.Siddaramaiah attacked speaker K.G. Bopaiah for not accepting Sriramulu's resignation from the assembly submitted Sep 4.Sriramulu claimed that he was quitting the assembly as his image had been hurt because he had been indicted by the Lokayukta (ombudsman) in illegal mining scam.He had planned to tour the state from Sep 5 to "explain to the people the truth", which was seen in political circles as an attempt by the Reddys to gauge the public mood before floating a regional party.However Sriramulu's plans went for a six as a CBI team from Hyderabad arrested Janardhana Reddy and OMC managing director B.V. Srinivas Reddy Sep 5.Bopaiah has justified taking time to accept the resignation, though Sriramlu handed it over to him personally.Bopaiah has said he has sought certain clarification from Sriramlu and would take a decision on getting them.However Congress and Janata Dal-Secular have been attacking Bopaiah for "giving time to BJP (to which he belongs) to persuade Sriramulu to take back the resignation".
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