Governor Bhardhwaj dashes off to Delhi: Consultations on Bellary ministers?
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

BANGALORE, MAY 20: In a sudden development, Karnataka Governor Hans Raj Bhardhwaj, who had created a political storm of sorts by issuing notice to the all powerful Bellary ministerial trio of Gali Janardhana Reddy, Gali Karunakara Reddy and B Sriramulu to appear before him on a complaint on the issue of office of profit, had suddenly dashed off to Delhi leading speculation in political circles.

The fact that the Governor had publicly ticked off Tourism and Infrastructure minister, the ``ring leader’’ of the Bellary mining lords, for his comments challenging the Raj Bhavan’s authority to issue a notice to him, and had been meeting delegation after delegation from the Congress led by KPCC president R V Deshpande and other senior leaders besides opposition leader in the state assembly Siddaramaiah and his council counterpart Motamma, as also former prime minister and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda and other organisations besides chief minister B S Yeddyurappa and other senior ministers during the last few days has added grist to the rumour mills.

The Governor’s decision to halt in Delhi for three days has heightened speculation on whether he had been summoned by the Centre for holding discreet face-to-face consultations or whether Bhardhwaj, who himself is a legal luminary, an experienced Supreme Court lawyer and constitutional expert besides being a former Union law minister, had decided to hold personal consultations with legal experts in Delhi.

The controversy erupted after Congress MLC K C Kondaiah, who is a former Bellary MP, formally submitted a written complaint to the Governor seeking dismissal of the Reddy brothers and their close associate Sriramulu by invoking Article 191 as they were serving as directors of the Obulapuram Mining Company and were engaged in the mining business even while serving as ministers in the B S Yeddyurappa-led BJP government.

Kondaiah had even furnished documentary evidence to buttress his claims and had also pointed out that the Bellary ministers were responsible for forcing the Yeddyurappa regime to drop its proposal for levying a toll of Rs 1,000 per truck for transporting iron ore last year. The chief minister had reintroduced the proposal of levying the toll on trucks transporting iron ore by halving the amount from Rs 1,000 to Rs 500 allegedly under pressure from the Bellary ministers to encourage their mining business.

While elder brother Karunakara Reddy, who is serving as the revenue minister, and health minister Sriramulu had opted to maintain a discreet silence on the notice issued by the Governor, the younger Janardhana Reddy publicly criticised Bhardhwaj and contended that he had no authority to entertain any complaint against them much less to issue virtual show cause notice.

"The Governor is just a constitutional head of the Government. He is neither a judge nor a quasi judicial authority to summon ministers to appear before him and give evidence,”  Janardhana Reddy had said inviting public condemnation from almost all Congress leaders, including Union law minister M Veerappa Moily, and JD(S) leaders from Deve Gowda to Kumaraswamy.

It may be recalled that Janardhana Reddy had created a political sensation by publicly alleging that the former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy had allegedly taken a Rs 150 crore bribe during the JD(S)-BJP coalition regime. Janardhana Reddy had even taken the issue till the Supreme Court demanding a CBI inquiry.

With the controversy threatening to snowball into a major embarrassment for the Government, which is set to complete two years in office at the month-end, the chief minister sought to douse the issue by calling on the Governor ostensibly to extend birthday greetings to Bhardhwaj but essentially to placate Raj Bhavan. He had even promised to sort out the issue by talking to the Bellary ministers and bring them to Raj Bhavan himself.

The opposition Congress and JD(S) leaders, who separately called on the Governor at Raj Bhavan on Wednesday, furnished further set of documents in support of their demands for dismissal of the Bellary ministers.

Meanwhile, Congress opposition leader in the assembly Siddaramaiah, a former deputy chief minister and finance minister, demanded that the chief minister himself should sack the three ministers  ``to save the natural resources of the state.”

Quoting the recent Supreme Court judgement on the Reliance case in which held that Natural Gas was a natural resource and property of the state and the government, Siddaramaiah said similarly iron ore was also a natural resource.

He said the three Bellary ministers have been carrying on illegal mining and misused their power as ministers to influence the cabinet to withdrew criminal cases filed against them and were, therefore, ``ineligible to be in the ministry.”

"Either the Chief Minister should display courage to protect the natural resources by dropping the three ministers or if he is unable to discharge his constitutional duties, he should resign,” Siddaramaiah said.