Bangalore :  Senior Congress leader and former union minister B Janardhan Poojari has said that the Congress in the state ought to have launched an intensive agitation demanding the appointment of a Lokayukta for Karnataka.

Speaking to reporters in the capital, Poojari surprised many by stating that  the party had offered the chief minister post to him thrice in the past, which he however turned down.

At  the same time Poojari who defended  Speaker Bopaiah who  opposed the World Heritage Site tag for the Western Ghats, at the same time demanded the latter’s resignation  for stating that the people  of Kodagu would be forced to demand separate statehood  if the World Heritage Site tag was confirmed.

Poojari also said he would be meeting Party President Sonia Gandhi and make an appeal to her to  request the Environment Ministry to withdraw the tag given to the Western Ghats.

On the Halady issue, he said the BJP and  the RSS were trying to drawn a line between  the Billawas  and Bunts.