Bangalore: Criminal Complaint 'Handiwork of Mischief-Mongers': Governor
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Oct 19: Stung by the accusation against him of having dropped the 'disproportionate assets’ case against Samajwadi Party Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav during his tenure as Union Law Minister, Karnataka Governor Hans Raj Bhardwaj dubbed it as ''the handiwork of some mischief mongers.”
Speaking to presspersons after participating in a seminar on impacts climate change at Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) here, the Governor said, “some mischievous persons” may have filed a criminal complaint against him in the Tilak Marg police station in Delhi.
“I don’t know much about it (criminal complaint). They are all mischievous people,” he said dismissing the accusation as baseless and unjustified.
It has been reported Bhardwaj was allegedly behind the decision of then UPA-led union government to drop a case of disproportionate assets against Mulayam Singh Yadav and his family members, in exchange for favours shown by the Samajwadi Party to support the government in the crucial trust vote in 2008.
The complainant, Vishwanath Chaturvedi, a Supreme Court lawyer, has named Bhardwaj, the then minister of state for personnel affairs and present Maharashtra Chief Minister, Prithviraj Chavan, and former DIG of CBI, Tilottama Verma, assistant commissioner, H C Avasthi, and the then solicitor general, E Vahanvati, as co-conspirators.
“I have good relations with leaders of all national and regional parties. I am with good terms with leaders such as Mulayam Singh Yadav, Laloo Prasad Yadav. I am Governor of Karnataka for the last two years,” Bhardwaj said.
The Governor also hit out at the BJP MP, D B Chandre Gowda, and called him “defector,” who hopped from party to party.
Chandre Gowda sought the Governor’s resignation on Tuesday following alleged criminal complaint against Bhardwaj.
Before last Lok Sabha elections, Chandre Gowda quit the Congress and joined the BJP. He was earlier part of the Janata Party and later Janata Dal.
Call for preserving natural mineral resources
Earlier, in his address to delegates at the seminar, the governor appealed to the Government to take steps to safeguard its forests, rivers and rich natural mineral resources.
Rivers such as Ganga and Yamuna have been polluted following release of human and medical waste. The climate change has no boundaries and all counties have to take steps to safeguard environment, he said.
Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said implementation of programmes such as Bhoo Chetana, organic farming, use of bio-fuel by government-run transport corporations, and tapping solar energy would prevent ecological degradation.
The Bhoo Chetana programme has increased crop yield up to 40 per cent in rainfed taluks of the State, the Chief Minister said.