Karnataka crisis: BJP leaders meet President Patil

NEW DELHI - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) delegation led by senior leader LK Advani met President Pratibha Patil on Monday and sought the removal of Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj.

Beside Advani, leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley led the delegation comprising of all MPs and Rajya Sabha members from Karnataka.

“Karnataka Governor is acting like a Congress agent,” Advani told reporters after the meeting.

“A Governor is expected to act in an unbiased manner, but his conduct has been full of biases since day one. It was never in accordance with the Constitution,” Advani added.

“We have submitted a memorandum to the President where we have mentioned all these things, he said.

The land scam case in Karnataka has taken a fresh twist with the BJP leadership advising Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa to tread cautiously in dealing with the matter legally.

Yeddyurappa, who was in Delhi on Sunday for consultations with the party’s national leadership, was advised not to approach President Pratibha Patil directly for the moment, but return to Bangalore and take both political and legal opinions on the issue.

The BJP has accused Bhardwaj of acting as a Central Government agent in sanctioning the prosecution of Yeddyurappa and others for their role in the land scam case.

On Sunday, Yeddyurappa said he wanted to meet with Union Home Minister P Chidambaram.

“It’s an insult to the people of Karnataka, to the Chief Minister, to the democratic system. This is not the first time Mr Bhardwaj is doing like this. As soon as he became the Governor of Karnataka, he started this,” Yeddyurappa said.

He said he would not file a case in the Karnataka High Court just yet with regard to the Governor’s decision to sanction his prosecution.

Yeddyurappa further said that he was aware of Governor Bhardwaj’s next step, which was to pass an order for his prosecution.

Yeddyurappa has been accused of misusing his post and involved in corruption by allotting state-owned land plots to his kith and kin.

Yeddyurappa has stated that there is no need for him to resign, as the people of the state were happy with his ‘hard work’.

The controversy centered around the allotment of 2.5 acres of prime de-notified land in the state capital to Yeddyurappa’s two sons. (ANI)