Bangalore, Jan 21 (IANS) The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday said it will complain to President Pratibha Patil against Governor H.R. Bhardwaj and hold rallies across Karnataka to press his recall for his ‘biased’ attitude towards the state government.
‘A delegation of BJP central leaders and parliament members from the state will meet the president in New Delhi Jan 24 to inform her of the way the governor was conducting himself and demand his recall,’ Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa told reporters.
Yeddyurappa demanded an ‘unconditional apology’ from Bhardwaj for his Thursday’s sarcastic comment of ‘ulta chor kotwal ko daante (it is like a thief reprimanding the police)’.
Bhardwaj made the comment in reference to Thursday’s state cabinet resolution urging him not to grant sanction to prosecute Yeddyurappa over allegations of nepotism in land allotment. Two Bangalore advocates have sought Bhardwaj’s permission to file criminal case against Yeddyurappa.
‘The governor has insulted the six crore people of Karnataka and he should unconditionally apologise to them,’ said Yeddyurappa, who wrote a letter late Thursday to Bhardwaj, protesting the remark.
As the war of words over the plea for the chief minister’s prosecution intensified between the governor and the ruling party, the BJP sent its general secretary Dharmendra Pradhan to Bangalore to draw up plans for Bhardwaj’s recall.
‘Pradhan, who is in-charge of BJP affairs in Karnataka, met state party leaders and it was announced later that rallies will be held in all districts and talukas (sub-districts) across the state for Bhardwaj’s recall,’ state party spokesperson Ayanur Manjunath told reporters here.
He said state ministers and legislators will also march to Raj Bhavan, the official residence of the governor, here Jan 25, calling upon Bhardwaj to ‘vacate the Raj Bhavan’.
