Decision on Yeddyurappa’s prosecution in two days, says Bhardwaj

BANGALORE - Karnataka Governor H.R. Bhardwaj Thursday said he would give in two days his decision on whether to sanction the prosecution of Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa following allegations of him being involved in land scams.

“I will let you know my decision in two days,” he told reporters a day after the state cabinet ‘unanimously’ passed a resolution urging him not to grant the permission sought by two Bangalore advocates.

Bhardwaj hit back at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over its plan to stage demonstrations and call for a statewide shutdown if sanction to prosecute Yeddyurappa was granted.

“Ulta chor kotwal ko dante (it is like a thief reprimanding police),” he said on the margins of a function here when asked about the BJP’s threats.

“These are all part of today’s politics. I am not scared of all these things,” Bhardwaj said.

The governor asserted he was doing his duty. “When a written submission is made to me (seeking sanction to prosecute), I have to consider it,” he said referring to the plea of the two advocates.

Bhardwaj said there was nothing new in the cabinet resolution or Yeddyurappa’s letter to him Wednesday. “They have been saying that Lok Ayukta (ombudsman) will investigate, a judicial commission will probe. What is new in it?” he said.

Yeddyurappa’s letter and the cabinet resolution claimed that Bhardwaj should not grant the sanction to prosecute Yeddyurappa as the charges were being probed by the Lok Ayukta and the judicial commission headed by B. Padmaraja, a retired judge of the Karnataka High Court.

Bhardwaj said he was yet to get all documents he had sought from the government over allegations made by the two advocates.

“I had asked the government to give the documents by Jan 20. Today is the last day. Still I have not got them,” he said.

Bhardwaj contested the cabinet claim that he had made up his mind to grant sanction before he sought the documents.

“Till today I have not told anybody of my thinking,” he said.

Yeddyurappa’s letter Wednesday and the cabinet resolution supporting him said Bhardwaj had told the chief minister on Dec 31 that he would grant sanction after Republic Day (Jan 26) but sought documents from the government only three days later on Jan 3.

Two Bangalore advocates, Sirajin Bhasha and K.N. Balakrishna, submitted documents running into 1,700 pages to Bhardwaj Dec 28 and claimed the papers establish over 100 cases of nepotism, misconduct and corruption by Yeddyurappa, his two sons and some cabinet colleagues.

They sought Bhardwaj’s sanction to prosecute Yeddyurappa and Home and Transport Minister R. Ashoka.

With Bhardwaj reportedly telling Yeddyruappa that he would grant sanction after Jan 26, the cabinet said in its resolution Wednesday: “Your Excellency’s action of consideration of the request for sanction will not inspire confidence that the decision would be judicious, fair and bonafide.”

Yeddyurappa, the BJP’s first chief minister in south India, is facing charges of favouring his sons, daughter, son-in-law, sister, her daughter and son-in-law with prime residential and commercial land in and around Bangalore.

Yeddyurappa has since made his kin surrender the land and appointed the Padmaraja commission to probe into land allotment from 1995 to November 2010.

The period covers the rule of six chief ministers, including Yeddyurappa who took over in May 2008.