Face-off forever

Over the last year-and-a-half,the gulf between the Raj Bhavan and the BJP government,the Chief Minister in particular,has only widened. Any pretence of civility has ended with the BJPs plans to approach the President on January 24 to seek the withdrawal of Bhardwaj as Governor. The move comes even as the Governor contemplates sanctioning the prosecution of Yeddyurappa on a corruption charge.

Raj Bhavan has emerged as a beehive of activity unprecedented till Bhardwaj took over: Opposition leaders rush in at the drop of a hat to lodge grievances and emerge with the conviction of having met an ally. This and Bhardwajs regular barbs against the government have resulted in the BJP calling him a Congress agent and accusing him of using his office to pursue politics instead of governance.

Bhardwaj,74,has often emerged as the principal opposition to the BJP,seeming more effective than the Congress and the JDS combined,and showing that you can move a politician out of politics but you cannot take politics out of a politician.

The Karnataka Governor has taken on the BJP and Yeddyurappa on legislative issues too 8211; like a bill on cow slaughter,another on the regularisation of illegal constructions 8211; but it is his seemingly political skirmishes over illegal mining and the continuance of corrupt ministers in government that have drawn the most attention.

When he took over,the appointment coming on the heels of attacks on churches and women by right-wing affiliated groups,it was expected that Bhardwaj,a former Union minister and a dyed-in-wool loyalist of the Gandhi family,would try primarily to trip up the right-wing agenda of the Sangh Parivar. Much of the new Governors early statements,in fact,revolved around preserving the secular fabric in the state.

For six months,Bhardwaj remained largely a neutral party as the BJP maintained law and order. The issue of illegal iron ore mining involving the Reddy brothers group from Bellary three of whom are ministers in the BJP government that emerged in late 2009 first saw the Governor take on the BJP government.

On February 2,2010,Bhardwaj,after receiving a petition from Congress MLC and Bellary leader K C Kondaiah demanding disqualification of three ministers for using their offices to further mining business interests,sought a report from Yeddyurappa.

On April 1,Bhardwaj forwarded to the Chief Minister a letter from Deve Gowda alleging lawlessness in the mining district of Bellary. On September 8,he wrote to the Chief Minister charging him with not replying to any of such earlier mails.

Recent allegations of Yeddyurappas role in corrupt land deals have seen a similar pattern of mails from the Governors office.

I have a right under the Constitution to get information from the government on any issue. That is why,if the government keeps silent on any issue and does not give information,I can only write to the Chief Minister, Bhardwaj said recently.

One of the most debated episodes in Bhardwajs tenure has been his October 2010 decision to ask Yeddyurappa to prove his majority in the Assembly after 19 BJP MLAs had moved to withdraw support for Yeddyurappas leadership. Bhardwaj then wrote to the Speaker directing him to conduct the vote fairly,drawing an angry response from the Speaker.

On October 11,after calling a trust vote held in the Assembly a farce,Governor Bhardwaj recommended removal of the BJP government but retracted a day later,apparently under pressure from the Congress leadership,and offered the BJP a second chance to prove its majority.

In November,as the BJP slipped into a new controversy over the Chief Ministers role in sweetheart land deals for his family,a local television channel aired a video clip of a man posing as a go-between for the Governor in conversation with BJP minister and mining businessman Janardhan Reddy,apparently negotiating a deal to solve the illegal mining problems of the Bellary brothers.

For the one-and-a-half years or so that I have been here I have given full co-operation on all matters and there is no grievance at all they can have against me. I am a governor,my duty is to serve the people of Karnataka,not to favour any political party, Bhardwaj said in a media interaction after suggesting a second trust vote last October.

On December 29,Bhardwaj received a complaint of corruption against Yeddyurappa and began a process of ascertaining if sanction could be accorded to prosecute him.

I am fed up with the kind of corruption,whether it is mining which I took up first or land grabbing and denotification. There is a constitutional breakdown. I cannot go to the Assembly and debate all this, Bhardwaj has said while justifying his confrontations with the government.

On January 6 this year 8211; given his already acrimonious relationship with the BJP 8211; it was no surprise when the Governor used protests by the Opposition to abandon delivering the customary praise for work done by the ruling government on the opening day of the state legislative session.

Despite the apparent crisis,the current standoff between the Governor and the government could still end up finally as political posturing,where only the credibility of both parties are eroded.