In a memorandum submitted to Governor Khurshed Alam Khan on Tuesday, KPCC president Dharam Singh and opposition leader in the Assembly, Mallikarjun Kharge, said it was quite evident that the main reason for rejecting the report was to ensure that criminal offences alleged to have been committed by certain leaders belonging to the ruling party were not investigated and the culprits not prosecuted. The memorandum said the rejection of the report by the State Government is not only subversive to the rule of law but is against all the norms and procedures of a democratic set-up.

The Shiv Sena-BJP Government had lost the right to rule the State and such a government could not carry on its constitutional obligations and responsibilities impartially, it said.

If they failed to resign on their own,it said, the President should take appropriate and necessary action against the Maharashtra Government to ``safeguard the Constitution and secular image of the country''.

Kharge told reporters that they had submitted thousands of signatures collected as part of a campaign on Srikrishna report and similar programmes would be held in all districts.