A day after Karnataka governor H.R. Bhardwaj sanctioned orders to prosecute state chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, the BJP said its leader Mr Yeddyurappa would continue in office and the governor will “have to bite the dust.”
The party claimed the governor “acted on his own” and acted unconstitutionally by giving sanction to prosecute Mr Yeddyurappa.
The Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley while alluding to Mr Bhardwaj’s actions being motivated by “political and collateral” considerations, sought to know whether without an investigative process or judicial proceeding finding a chief minister prima facie guilty of an act of corruption, can a governor grant sanction to a private citizen to prosecute him.
He also rubbished contentions of home minister P. Chidambaram and Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde on Mr Yeddyurappa’s prosecution, saying that as per legal precedents the governor should have waited for the ongoing investigations to be completed.
“What the home minister has ignored is the explicit observation of Supreme Court that even though the governor can act independent of the decision of the council of ministers and act in his own discretion, yet the issue of sanction has first to be considered by the council of ministers,” Mr Jaitley said in a statement.
BJP national spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy alleged that Mr Bhardwaj had recommended President’s Rule in Karnataka in October 2010 and having failed in his attempt, his “political agenda now is to destabilise the government.”
Enumerating on the “lacunae” in Mr Bhardwaj’s decision, Mr Jaitley said, “The complaint of the two advocates was not sent to the council of ministers. It’s views were not taken. The requirement of the complaint for grant of sanction being first considered by the council of ministers is not satisfied.”
He insisted that in this case the consideration of the matter by the council and its advice being placed before the governor was necessary but the procedure was not followed.
Mr Jaitley cited a Supreme Court order which says the council of ministers has to first consider grant of sanction to prosecute.