Bangalore/New Delhi, July 25
Facing heat in the illegal mining scam, a defiant Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa today asserted he would not quit but left it to BJP chief Nitin Gadkari to take a call on his fate in the light of the Lokayukta report.

The Congress dubbed Yeddyurappa as “Cauvery of corruption” and questioned his continuance in office in the wake of “overwhelming evidence” against him.

Addressing mediapersons in Bangalore after returning from a holiday in Mauritius, Yeddyurappa also shot off a letter to Gadkari seeking a probe by a party panel into various charges against him.

Yeddyurappa said he would abide by "whatever decision" is taken by Gadkari, who also spoke to the Chief Minister.

“I have talked to the Karnataka Chief Minister. He has asked him to take a decision as party president on the issue and I will follow it. I have never taken a political decision based on perceptions. So as soon as we get a copy of the Lokayukta report, and based on the charges made in it, the party will take appropriate action,” Gadkari said in Delhi.

Shortly after his arrival, Yeddyurappa, who appeared relaxed, said, "I am going to continue as Chief Minister for another two years." He disclosed that he has written to Gadkari, asking him to set up a three-member panel with BJP general secretary Ananth Kumar, a known detractor of Yeddyurappa, senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu and the party in charge of Karnataka Dharmendra Pradhan as its members to look into the charges of illegal mining against him and his kin.

The findings of the Lokayukta that the mining scam has caused a loss of Rs 1,800 crore to the state exchequer for 14 months from March 2009 has set off a clamour for Yeddyurappa's resignation by opposition parties and from some within the BJP.

On Lokayukta’s allegation of phone tapping, Yeddyurappa said he would quit the Chief Minister’s post and retire from active politics if evidence surfaced that Santosh Hegde’s phone was being tapped.

He also requested the PM to form a three-member committee to probe the allegations of phone tapping made by the Lokayukta. Yeddyurappa proposed the names of External Affairs Minister SM Krishna, JD(S) supremo and former Prime Minister Deve Gowda and Hegde as members of the committee.

Curiously, Hegde has refused to register a police complaint regarding the alleged tapping of his phone. Minister. The press conference was also used by the CM to show that he still enjoyed full support of his Cabinet colleagues.

A battery of ministers, including Jagadish Shettar, known as a contender for the CM’s post, was present at the conference. The two Reddy brothers — Janardhana and Karunakara — and Health Minister Sreeramulu, who too have been reportedly indicted by the Lokayukta in his report, were also present at the conference.

Meanwhile, the Congress questioned Yeddyurappa's continuance in office in the wake of "overwhelming evidence" against him. "You don't need a Hegde report to establish that the Karnataka Chief Minister is the Cauvery of corruption," said Congress spokesman Manish Tewari.

He alleged that Yeddyurappa was not being shown the door as the spoils from the illegal mining scam had been shared by all in the party in Karnataka and at the national level.

"When the poisonous fruit of illegal mining is shared by all including those in the highest echelons of the BJP...then they will violate all canons of propriety," Tewari said.