Bangalore, July 17 (IANS) The Congress Sunday accused the Karnataka Lokayukta (ombudsman) of being silent on corruption in the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state and said he should quit immediately.


"Though the Lokayukta (N. Santosh Hegde) has only two weeks more for his term to expire, he should resign immediately as people in the state have got a wrong message from his silence over corruption in BJP government,” Congress general secretary B.K. Hariprasad told reporters here.

The Congress demand followed Hegde’s claim three days ago that senior BJP leader V. Dhananjaya Kumar had “tried to influence” him against naming Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa in the report on illegal mining in the state.

Hegde is preparing the report to be submitted before his five-term expires on August 2. Hegde did not say when the alleged attempt by the BJP leader to influence him took place.

Dhananjaya Kumar, a former central minister and now the Karnataka government's special representative at New Delhi, has denied Hegde’s claims.

“Why did Hegde keep quiet all this time and not initiate action against Kumar? His silence is intriguing. He should quit immediately,” Hariprasad said.