Recall Bhardwaj,BJP tells President

3 fresh graft complaints filed against CM,kin

The BJP on Monday took its battle against Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj to Rasthrapati Bhawan. In its attempt to give a political colour to the grant of prosecution sanction against Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa three new complaints were filed against him a party delegation met President Pratibha Patil and demanded recall of Bhardwaj alleging he was acting like an agent of the Congress.

That senior BJP leader L K Advani himself led the delegation,comprising Arun Jaitley,Sushma Swaraj and Venkaiah Naidu,signalled that the central leadership was completely backing Yeddyurappa. We appealed to the President to recall the Karnataka Governor as he has been exhibiting an extra-constitutional and confrontationist attitude, Advani said after meeting Patil.

The delegation handed over a 15-page memorandum to the President,detailing some of the Governors utterances and actions which it construed as partisan,the prominent being his reported assertion that he was proud to be a Congressman.

He has been making sweeping statements and even allegations against the government without any basis or proof. This is highly unbecoming of any constitutional authority. His statements in the media virtually give the impression that the Governor is the Leader of the Opposition, said the memorandum.

While Naidu said the Congress high command had masterminded the operation and Bhardwaj was just carrying out its agenda,Yeddyurappa alleged in Bangalore we have information that all the petitions submitted against the government were drafted in the Raj Bhawan.

Accusing him of often issuing sarcastic and negative statements to embarrass the state government,the BJP said the Governor had converted the Raj Bhawan into a political instrument and weapon for harassing the state government in general and the Chief Minister and some of the ministers in particular.

On the sanction,the BJP leaders said the mindset and conduct of the Governor were motivated by extraneous and collateral purposes,less as a constitutional functionary. A Governor cannot function malafide for political reason and substitute himself as commission of inquiry or the Lokayukta…. He has to act as a constitutional head and not out of personal or political malice, the memorandum noted.

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In fresh trouble for beleaguered Yeddyurappa,three new complaints were filed against him in Bangalore on Monday,detailing nine alleged instances of corruption in land transactions. The complaints were filed by the advocates who had last week secured the Governors sanction to prosecute Yeddyurappa.

The fresh complaints were filed in addition to two others that were received by a special Lokayukta court on January 22.

The special Lokayukta court judge posted hearing of the January 22 cases to January 31 for filing of objections by the Chief Minister and the others named in the complaints. The court scheduled Mondays three complaints for February 1,2 and 3 for a preliminary hearing.

A son-in-law of CM,R N Sohan Kumar,meanwhile,filed an application in the court saying former CM H D Kumaraswamy should also be named as an accused in one of the cases since he denotified nearly 60 acres of land in favour of private parties. The CMs son-in-law also sought a stay on the complaints citing a pending High Court case on whether the Lokayukta or a judicial commission appointed by the Yeddyurappa government should investigate similar complaints against the CM.

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The BJP and the Congress also squared up for more political confrontation,with the former announcing a second march to the Raj Bhawan in three days to denounce the grant of sanction by the Governor to prosecute the CM. The Congress,on its part,announced a major rally in Bangalore on January 30,seeking Yeddyurappas ouster.