Karnataka war: Governor vs CM is Congress vs BJP

The grant of sanction clears the way for the two lawyers,Sirajin Bhasha and K N Balaraj — from the Chief Minister’s home district of Shimoga — to prosecute Yeddyurappa under the Prevention of Corruption Act,1988,and the Criminal Procedure Code,1973.

“The petition for prosecuting the Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa in an appropriate court of law for various grave allegations of corruption and criminal misconduct has been considered by His Excellency the Governor of Karnataka and he has granted the sanction to prosecute the Chief Minister,” said a communique from Raj Bhavan.

Yeddyurappa is accused of releasing government land to benefit members of his family and their businesses since becoming Chief Minister.

The sanction to prosecute is widely seen as a move by the Governor to make Yeddyurappa’s continuance as Chief Minister more difficult and to put the BJP in a spot. Yeddyurappa resisted BJP moves to remove him from the Chief Minister’s post when charges surfaced last November but now has the backing of the BJP leadership to take the battle to the Governor.

Yeddyurappa and the BJP have constituted an investigation by a judicial commission to look into the charges and have insisted that the Governor should have waited for two separate investigations — by the judicial commission and by the Karnataka Lok Ayukta — to reach a conclusion before granting sanction.

Sanction for prosecution is usually granted after preliminary investigation has established prima facie evidence of corruption. Ostensibly,the Governor sought to peruse 93 different government documents before making his decision.

The BJP accused Bhardwaj of deciding on sanction on December 31,two days after the petition and 1700 pages of supporting documents were filed by the lawyers. The governor sought documents for the verification of the complaint only on January 3,Yeddyurappa has said in a letter to Bhardwaj.

Earlier today,Bhardwaj said that a state Cabinet decision and a letter written by the Chief Minister asking the Governor not to prejudge Yeddyurappa on corruption charges was “unwarranted”.

Yeddyurappa,in turn,pounced on a remark by Bhardwaj that the letter from the Chief Minister was akin to a “ulta chor kotwal ko dante” situation — like a thief taking the police to task.

Suggesting that the remark was a slight on the people of Karnataka,the Chief Minister demanded an unconditional apology from the Governor.

The BJP has planned a Raj Bhavan chalo agitation on Saturday and plans to approach the President of India on January 24 to seek the recall of Bhardwaj.