Despite Rebuff, Yeddy Again Asks Guv to Convene Session from June 2

From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore

Bangalore, May 16: Unmindful of the rejection of the B S Yeddyurappa regime’s May 13 State Cabinet decision for convening the Legislature Session from May 16 by Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj and his recommendation to the Centre for imposing President’s Rule in the State, the State Cabinet has asked Raj Bhavan to convene a 10-day session of both houses of State Legislature from June 2.

The three-year-old BJP regime headed by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has sought to mount pressure on the State Governor by sending another resolution of the State Cabinet for convening the Legislature Session.

An emergency meeting of the State Cabinet, chaired by the Chief Minister, decided to request the Governor to summon the Legislature Session for the second time which would not only add to the pressure on the Raj Bhavan as also the Centre but also create sufficient ground to prove the point that the Yeddyurappa regime was denied an opportunity to prove its majority on the floor of the House.

In a parallel move, the ruling BJP has decided to parade all its 121 legislators before Rashtrapathi Bhavan on May 17 so as to cause embarrassment to the Congress-led UPA regime for seeking to dismiss a state government enjoying a clear majority in the 224-member Legislative Assembly and thereby force it to reject Bhardwaj’s recommendation for keeping the State Assembly in suspended animation in the wake of Supreme Court quashing the disqualification of 11 "rebel" BJP and five independent MLAs.

"No other resolution"

Karnataka’s Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister S Suresh Kumar, who briefed reporters after the emergency meeting of the State Cabinet on Monday, explained that the Cabinet felt that it was necessary to pass full budget for implementation of development programmes and decided to recommend to the Governor to convene both Houses of Legislatures from June 2.

To a question on whether the Government was making up for the lapse of its earlier request for convening of the Legislature session at a short notice, the minister claimed that the Cabinet had submitted its request to the Governor on May 13 in accordance with the Article 163 of the Constitution.

''Even though the Governor is duty-bound to accept the request of the State Cabinet as long as it enjoys a majority in the Assembly, the Government had not received any communication from the Raj Bhavan on its earlier request so far. We have contacted the Governor, who was in Delhi, and conveyed our request through fax. But the Governor has not responded. Is this the way for a Governor to function?," he asked.

The Cabinet members discussed the issue of dispatching the special report by the Governor to the Centre and expressed their displeasure over it when there was no valid justification for such a course of action.

''We have, however, not passed any other resolution," he said answering questions on the reported moves for passing a Cabinet resolution for recalling the Governor for his partisan and unconstitutional behaviour.

All 121 BJP MLAs to be paraded before Rashtrapathi Bhavan

Meanwhile, the ruling party MLAs and Ministers along with other senior party leaders, who met at the residence of the Chief Minister in the morning, unanimously decided to condemn the Governor’s move to keep the Assembly in suspended animation and for imposition of President’s Rule in the State as "politically ill-motivated" and "against the spirit of the Constitution."

The meeting attended by senior BJP leaders Venkaiah Naidu, former State BJP President and MP D V Sadananda Gowda, and 120 MLAs of the party has resolved to repose confidence in the leadership of Yeddyurappa.

Naidu announced that BJP legislators would be paraded before President Pratibha Patil in New Delhi on Tuesday to expose the Governor’s "anti-democratic act"

The number of BJP MLAs is 120 after the Supreme Court’s judgment, Naidu said criticising the Governor for his recommendation to the Centre for imposition of the President’s rule as ''highly unethical, undemocratic, unconstitutional and against the spirit of the people’s mandate.’’

''Such being the case, if the Central government has any respect for the Constitution and the democracy, it should reject the Governor’s recommendation and should see that Bhardwaj does not deserve to be the Governor," Naidu said.

''Recall Governor immediately"

He said the Governor has been deliberately acting adverse to the interest of the State, has sent recommendation to the President of India to keep the Assembly in suspended animation, without any substantive reasons against the spirit of the constitution.

''We strongly demand the Centre and President of India to recall the Governor Bhardwaj from Karnataka with immediate effect," said the one page resolution.

Yeddyurappa termed the Governor’s action as "politically ill-motivated" and said it has dented the credibility of the Opposition parties - Congress and JD (S). "The BJP has gained on all fronts and all the MLAs behaved well after the apex court’s verdict," he said.

Appealing to legislators to focus on development works in their constituencies, the Chief Minister said that works would help the party to win more than 160 seats in the next elections. He also flayed the Opposition for opposing the Government’s decision on hold the Legislature session for 10 days to discuss the budgetary schemes.

Accusing Bhardwaj, a former Union law minister, of converting Raj Bhavan into "Congress Bhavan," the Chief Minister said his action violated the Supreme Court verdict in the S R Bommai case. By his recommendation, the Governor has become a "laughing stock" and his recall has become "inevitable," he said.

State BJP President K S Eshwarappa proposed the resolution while Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Jagadish Shettar seconded it. It was later adopted unanimously.

''Raj Bhavan is not Bhardwaj’s personal property"

The Chief Minister’s Political Secretary B J Puttaswamy, who is a trenchant critic of the JD(S) and Congress, at a separate news conference lashed out at Governor H R Bhardwaj for denying entry to 11 BJP MLAs to the Raj Bhavan to meet him on Sunday evening and said "the Raj Bhavan is not the personal property of the Governor."

There was high drama at the Raj Bhavan on Sunday as the rebels, when the legislators were not called in by the Governor, who agreed to meet only a group of ministers and BJP spokesperson and special representative in New Delhi V Dhanajaya Kumar.

Puttaswamy accused the Governor of being partisan and said the "Raj Bhavan is personal property of the Karnataka Government. It is belonged to the people of the State. The State government is bearing the expenses of the Governor’s office."

He condemned the "dictatorial attitude" of Bhardwaj and said "this dictator is unfit to become the constitutional head." The governor has been making all out efforts to dismiss the BJP Government in the State to bring back the Congress, which had lost all elections, including local bodies, he said.

Alleging that the Congress and JD(S) leaders have been misusing the Governor’s office to fulfill their selfish agenda, the BJP leader demanded the resignation of leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah for the dismal performance of the Congress in the by-elections.

"Bhardwaj will meet the same fate of Buta Singh, former governor of Bihar," Puttaswamy said pointing that the Governor cannot continue to adopt anti-democratic and anti-constitutional methods against the BJP government.