New Delhi, July 28 (IANS) Describing the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) decision to remove Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa as too little too late, the Congress Thursday demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into illegal mining in the state.


"The Lokayukta report is the tip of iceberg. Being a Congress member from Karnataka, I feel a CBI probe is needed to do justice to the nation," Congress general secretary B.K. Hariprasad told IANS, after the BJP asked Yeddyurappa to quit following his indictment in illegal mining by the Lokayukta.

“Lakhs of metric tonnes of iron ore were stolen and exported to Pakistan and China. Naturally, if the country and state needs justice, it must be probed by the CBI,” he said.

The report by Lokayukta N. Santosh Reddy said the loss from illegal mining between 2006-10 was upwards of Rs.16,000 crore. "If probed by the CBI, it could be much more," Hariprasad added.

Congress spokeperson Shakeel Ahmad and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla felt the BJP's decision was too late.

“It's too late, it should have happened six months back,” Ahmad said.

Shukla added: "It is too late. This should have happened six months ago. There were serious charges against him."

The decision to ask Yeddyurappa to quit was taken by the BJP parliamentary panel that met at the residence of party president Nitin Gadkari.