Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (MS) 

Bengaluru, Aug 18: Chief minister (CM) B S Yediyurappa said on Sunday, August 18 the he will order a CBI probe into the alleged phone-tapping that is said to have occurred during the previous regime of the coalition government. Many Congress leaders of the state had demanded the probe to be handed over to CBI. 

Addressing the reporters, Yediyurappa said, "Several Congress leaders, including the legislature party leader Siddaramaiah have demanded a CBI probe into the telephone-tapping issue. So I will order the probe tomorrow itself," 

Yediyurappa also said that the people of the state also want an inquiry on the same and the guilty to be brought to book. This statement from the CM comes after disqualified MLA and former state president of JD(S) A H Vishwanath accused the former coalition government led by H D Kumaraswamy of tapping the phones of nearly 300 leaders including him. 

Former minister D K Shivakumar is not in favour of the inquiry to be conducted on the subject and seems to be taking the side of former CM H D Kumaraswamy, while the senior Congress leaders including Siddaramaiah, Mallikarjuna Kharge and former home minister M B Patil have demanded a CBI probe on the issue. According to sources, the telephones of Siddaramaiah and his close aides were tapped during coalition government's regime. Vishwanath also alleged that the tapping would not have taken place without the knowledge of Kumaraswamy, who was the CM then, as he was holding the intelligence wing under his portfolio. 

Kumaraswamy is being accused to be directly involved in the act by many BJP senior leaders of the state, including former CM Jagadish Shettar. They are saying that Kumaraswamy has tapped the telephones as his government was being threatened by the internal dissidence. 

In his defense, former CM Kumaraswamy tweeted that there was no need for him to tap the phones of other politicians in order to remain in power. The allegations made against him are not correct, he said. 

The whole saga got unearthed as Bhaskar Rao, Bengaluru police commissioner ordered an inquiry, earlier this month, into the phone-tapping incident of a conversation that he had with someone in Delhi, who was lobbying on his behalf with some politicians for the post which he is holding now, that is alleged to have been leaked.