JD-S to stall Karnataka legislature till Yeddyurappa quits

BANGALORE - The Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) Saturday announced it would not allow the Karnataka legislature, which begins its session Jan 6, to function till Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa quits.

“Yeddyurappa has to go,” former chief minister and JD-S state president H.D. Kumaraswamy told reporters here after meeting Governor H.R. Bhardwaj to greet him on New Year.

“We will not allow the legislature to function till Yeddyurappa goes,” he said. The 10-day session is scheduled to start Jan 6 with an address by Bhardwaj to the joint sitting of the state assembly and council.

Both the Congress and JD-S have been demanding Yeddyurappa’s resignation mainly over nepotism in land allotment. Yeddyurappa is accused of favouring his sons and daughters and other relatives with prime land in and around Bangalore.

After the scandal broke out in November, Yeddyurappa made his relatives surrender the land, claimed he did what his predecessors also did, and ordered a judicial probe into various land allotments since 1995.

However, not satisfied with this, the two opposition parties have been insisting that Yeddyurappa leave or be sacked.

Kumaraswamy said his party would adopt the same tactic that the Bharatiya Janata Party has done in stalling the parliamentary proceedings over 2G spectrum scandal. Yeddyurappa heads the BJP government, the first in Karnataka as also in south India.

The BJP, the main opposition party at the national level, did not allow the entire winter session of parliament to function, demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe into the 2G spectrum scandal.

Kumaraswamy, now Lok Sabha member from Ramanagaram adjoining Bangalore, said he had also urged Bhardwaj to sanction prosecution of Yeddyurappa over land deals.

Two Bangalore advocates have also sought Bhardwaj’s permission to prosecute Yeddyurappa.

Bhardwaj told reporters last week after receiving the memorandum from the two advocates that the documents they have submitted run into nearly 2,000 pages and he would study them before taking a decision.

Kumaraswamy said his party would launch a state-wide agitation for Yeddyurappa’s removal after the results of the district polls which ended Saturday are announced Jan 4.