Reject Bhardwaj Report or Face Nationwide Stir: BJP
Gabriel Vaz
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, May 22: With the Congress-led UPA regime continuing its indecisive stance on Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj’s controversial report for clamping President’s rule and suspending the state assembly, BJP has threatened to launch a nationwide agitation if the Centre failed to reject it and end the uncertainty dogging the B S Yeddyurappa regime, enjoying a clear majority.
Senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu, who is also a Rajya Sabha member from the State, declared: ''If the UPA government fails to act by Monday evening, we will be compelled to launch a nationwide agitation both against the Central government as well as the Governor. Today being holiday, we will wait till tomorrow evening."
However, reports from Delhi indicated that the UPA regime was still weighing its options on the implications of imposing Central rule in the State especially after the Yeddyurappa regime had demonstrated its clear majority in the 224-member assembly having 121 members, including the speaker with one seat being vacant.
With the Union Home Ministry reportedly writing to the Prime Minister’s Office to reject the Governor’s report in view of the clear majority enjoyed by the Yeddyurappa regime given the fact that the Supreme Court was unlikely to uphold imposition of President’s rule, the Union Cabinet which met last week failed to take a decision. As the Prime Minister is expected to go on a week-long foreign tour on Monday evening, it is evident that the Centre will have to take a decision by tomorrow.
State Congress leaders led by KPCC Chief Dr G Parameshwar and opposition leaders in both houses of the legislature Siddaramaiah and Motamma along with the party MPs and MLAs, who have threatened resignation by the Congress MLAs demanding dismissal of the Yeddyurappa regime by accepting the Governor’s report, have been camping in Delhi since the last two days. They have met Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and other Central leaders to press their demands.
In a parallel development, JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda has been trying his best to woo the Left parties and other friendly non-BJP opposition parties to lend their support to the move to the imposition of President’s rule in the State in view of the obvious reluctance of the UPA leadership because of its lack of a clear majority in the Rajya Sabha.
The former Prime Minister, who had already held a meeting with the leaders of CPM, CPI, Forward Block and RLD, held another round of talks with all non-BJP opposition party leaders in Delhi on Sunday to secure their support for the dismissal of the Yeddyurpapa regime.
BJP summons CM to Delhi
Even though the Yeddyurappa regime and BJP high command were confident of sailing through, especially after 10 of 11 BJP rebels, whose disqualification in October last year was quashed by the Supreme Court on May 13, had decided to backtrack on their opposition to the Chief Minister and return to the party-fold, appears to been unnerved by the latest turn of events.
The present political developments in Delhi, the pressure tactics by the state Congress leaders and the sharp division among the Central ministers as also the efforts by Deve Gowda in getting the backing of non-BJP opposition parties for ousting Yeddyurappa, has apparently caused jitters in the BJP camp to such an extent that the Chief Minister and other key leaders in the State have been asked to rush to Delhi for planning their strategy.
Venkaiah Naidu alleged that the state government was not allowed to function by the Governor during the last five-six days and the "inordinate delay" on the part of the Centre to take action on the special report was also affecting the interest of the State as well as the people.
"Let the State government function according to the Constitution," he said making it clear that, "Any further delay will be a negation of the people’s mandate. It will be against the spirit of federalism. We will not tolerate this."
Stating that the state unit of BJP has already launched demonstrations demanding the immediate recall of the Governor, Naidu warned the Centre against delaying its decision because of its "indecision and internal differences."
Suthradhari – Pathradari
"The classic case before us are the Governor’s repeated misadventures to oust the democratically elected popular government in the State. Congress-led UPA is the real "Suthradhari" (director) and the Governor is only a "Pathradhari" (actor) in this shameful drama," Naidu said.
The BJP leader dubbed UPAs two-year rule as "saga of betrayals" and "its performance is thoroughly disappointing."
''UPA’s performance is shameful and scamful. Indecision, inaction, incompetence, irreparable damage to the institutions are the hallmarks of the UPA government headed by Manmohan Singh which has completed two years in office. It has failed miserably to live up to even the basic expectations of the people. Promises filed up but remain unfulfilled," he said.
The UPA-II started its term with a flurry of announcements of 100-day agenda by several ministers. More than 700 days later, hardly any minister remembers what was promised, he said adding: There has been a huge gap disconnect between the rulers and the ruled.
Naidu said UPA regime was marked by absence of good governance. Over two dozens of Bills have been lapsed and 20 Bills were pending for the past five years. The head of the UPA, the Congress was a divided house. The Government suffers from severe serious competence deficit, he said.
"The list of unfulfilled promises is unending," he said pointing out that the right to food, physical infrastructure in rural areas, six-lane highways, 9 per cent growth rate, law on land acquisition and rehabilitation, judicial and police reforms have not materialized," he said.
Scams, Scandals Galore
Scams are stupendous and stunning involving thousands of crores of rupees. Some of them are the Common Wealth Games scam involving Rs. 70,000 crore, 2-G scam involving Rs. 1.72 lakh crore, the IPL scam, the S-Band spectrum scam, the Adarsh Society scam involving army and IAS officers and minsters and starting and shocking telephone tapping to mobilise support and harass political opponents, Naidu said.
Corruption and inflation were two major achievements of the UPA-II. The farm sector has been neglected. It has failed to contain price rise and rise in food prices has hurt the poor the most. The petrol prices have been increased 20 times in the name of rationlisation, he said claiming that the "inexcusable goof-ups" in the list of "most-wanted" terrorists given to Pakistan by the Home Ministry had made India a "laughing stock" in the international community.
"It shows the casual approach of the government in such a sensitive security matter. There is no political leadership to guide the government and hence there is a divergent approach between the party leadership and the government", he said adding that the Government faltered on unearthing black money as no action against those who have stashed thousands of crores of unaccounted money illegally in foreign shores despite repeated rebukes from the Supreme Court.
"Certainly, their identities are to be made public. Why is the Government so active in maintaining the secrecy for which after all the defaulters have to be prosecuted? Why is the UPA government so keen and hell bent on protecting the tax evaders?," Naidu asked.