New Delhi, January 22: Karnataka Governor Hansraj Bhardwaj has taken his battle against the chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa to its final stage.
Bhardwaj gave the sanction for prosecuting Yeddyurappa in land scam allegations. A decision he took on the basis of a private complaint filed by two lawyers close to the Yeddyurappa arch rival – JDS.
This decision comes a day after Yeddyurappa himself fixed an appointment with the President seeking the Governor’s withdrawal.
Bharitya Janta Party leader Arun Jaitley said, “This just shows that the Governor is using his position to help the Congress politically. His biases are now out in the open”.
Giving teeth to BJP’s stand is the haste shown by Bhardwaj to announce his decision. On Thursday he had said that he was going to wait for two days before announcing his verdict on the complaint against Yeddyurappa and the Karnataka Home Minister.
On Friday morning, he gave ample hints of what he was thinking by writing a letter to the CM almost warning him. It’s this haste which made Yeddyurappa describe Bhardwaj’s decision as daylight murder of democracy.
Dinesh Gundu Rao said, “If Yeddyurappa didn’t resign earlier, then how can we force him to resign now. Congress has nothing to do with the Governor’s decision”.
But constitutional experts are divided on the Governor’s decision.
KN Bhatt said, “The decision is totally devoid of any legal sanctity”.
Shanti Bhushan also commented, “Governor is well within his position to take this decision if he is convinced”.
Since Bhardwaj took over as Governor of Karnataka he has not missed opportunities in targetting the Chief Minister. In his defence Yediyiurapa has sited the setting up on one man committee headed by retired judge to get to the bottom of allegations against him.
While many have dismissed the move as an eyewash, Bhardwaj’s latest move is bound to provide some more ammunition to the BJP which is already fighting a high pitched battle against the Congress nationally.
–Agencies–