New Delhi: A BJP delegation led by senior
leader LK Advani Sunday met President Pratibha Patil to
complain about the "unconstitutional conduct" of Karnataka
Governor HR Bhardwaj and sought his recall.
The delegation, also comprising 23 Karnataka MPs,
handed over a memorandum to Patil in which they complained
about the "tirade" against the state government by Bhardwaj
since the day he took charge in June last year and said his
removal was a "must to restore Constitutional order".
"We appealed to the President to recall the Karnataka
Governor as he has been exhibiting an extra-constitutional and
confrontationist attitude. In the memorandum, we have given
several instances, wherein, it is evident that right from the
beginning he has been harbouring a political agenda," Advani
told reporters after meeting Patil at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
The move to meet Patil comes in the wake of heightened
tension between Bhardwaj and Karnataka Chief Minister BS
Yeddyurappa after the Governor sanctioned that an FIR be
registered against the BJP leader in a corruption case.
Terming Bhardwaj`s appointment as a step to "end
democracy" in the country, the BJP said the "mindset and
conduct" of the Governor was motivated by extraneous and
collateral purposes, less as a Constitutional functionary and
more as a Congress activist.
Attacking Bhardwaj for the steps he took on the graft
charges faced by Yeddyurappa, the BJP said that a Governor
cannot have "malafide for political reasons and substitute
himself as commission of enquiry or the Lokayukta".
In the memorandum, the BJP has mentioned several public
statements made by the Karnataka Governor against the Chief
Minister and rued that "such statements are typically made in
public only by Opposition leaders and not by a Constitutional
head of the government".
Advani also reminded that a BJP delegation led by Arun
Jaitley and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj
had appraised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the matter a
few months back.
A defiant Yeddyurappa brought his battle with Bhardwaj to
the national capital yesterday and met senior party leaders
to chalk out a strategy to deal with the political situation
arising out of Governor`s sanction to prosecute him for his
alleged involvement in land scams.
MP from Karnataka and senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu
accused the Congress of being "instrumental" in the current
situation.
"The Congress high command is the sutradhar in the
episode and the Karnataka Governor seems to be the patradhar.
the director high command... actor governor," Naidu said.
Asked if meeting the President was their final option, he
said it was imperative to highlight the issue before Patil and
added, "I want to know... if Congress is setting a precedent
that governors of any state will order prosecution of a Chief
Minister only on the basis of some complaints?"
He warned of "chaos across the country" if the Congress
and the Centre continue supporting the Governor "without
applying their mind".
"If Governors want to rule like this, go against the
mandate of the people, not do their constitutional duty then
there will be chaos across the country," Naidu said.
PTI
