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Journalism of Courage
A day after the Centre rejected his recommendation for Presidents Rule in Karnataka,Governor H R Bhardwaj on Monday accorded permission to the Karnataka government to convene a 10-day session of the state legislature from June 2.
Earlier,Bhardwaj had held up the governments request for the session to be convened,citing constitutional process in the light of his recommendation for invoking Article 356.
The convening of the legislature session,ostensibly to clear the states financial bills for the year,is expected to give the BJP a chance to prove its absolute majority in the Assembly.
But though the BJP has called off its statewide agitation against Bhardwaj following his sanction for the legislature session,Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa said his party would continue to press for the Governors recall.
In Delhi on Monday,Yeddyurappa met top BJP leaders L K Advani,Nitin Gadkari,Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley to chalk out the strategy. Sources said he may meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after the latter returns from his Africa visit. Party leaders said the governments decision to send an advisory to the state was another instance of the Centre overstepping its limits.
The Central government has no business to play big brother to states. An advisory or a letter is a typical case of playing big brother,which is not a role given to it under the Constitution, said senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley.
Yeddyurappa said the latest crisis was nothing but a political conspiracy orchestrated by the Congress. This is an attack on the federal structure of the country and the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission on Centre-state relationships, he said.
Saying that the Centres decision clearly showed that the Governor had acted in haste and in a partisan manner,Yeddyurappa said it was high time that Bhardwaj was recalled.
Now that the crisis has been averted,Yeddyurappa has indicated he is likely to expand his cabinet from its current strength of 31 to its full strength of 34. The exercise could see him accommodating some of the 11 rebel BJP MLAs,who are now back with the party.
