edit, governance now, feb 1-15, 2011
The Karnataka governor has lowered the dignity of office by playing dirty politics right from day one
Karnataka governor HR Bhardwaj may well be legally right in sanctioning prosecution of chief minister BS Yeddyurappa but, by doing so, he has clearly overreached his position to set the state on a collision course. Quite predictably, it has also snowballed into a bigger confrontation between the state and the centre and the two main political parties of the country, the Congress and the BJP. This was not only avoidable but also quite unnecessary. Days before Bhardwaj gave the nod for prosecution, the state cabinet had advised him to wait until two investigations into the allegations of corruption and nepotism against the chief minister were completed. The cabinet’s letter to him specified that the state Lokayukta and a judicial commission of enquiry were looking into different aspects of these allegations. Surely, he could ignore the advice (which the apex court upheld in the M.P. Special Police Establishment vs. State of Madhya Pradesh case of 2004, as union home minister P Chidambaram points out), but given the delicate nature of his relations with the state, Bhardwaj should have been advised caution and restraint by the centre. This was not the case and it was evident in Chidambaram’s statement the morning after. Bhardwaj’s action provoked another debate on the rationale of a constitutional figurehead who may be prone to playing politics.
And Bhardwaj, a former union law minister who was dropped by the UPA in its second term, has a history of playing dirty from day one of his new assignment. First, he made the government uncomfortable by harping on past communal incidents and then, with every crisis that the state government faced he turned more aggressive. He publicly sought information on illegal mining and corruption charges against ministers. By the time the government faced revolt within its ranks last October, he was at his worst. It was not only highly improper of him to ask the speaker of the assembly not to disqualify 16 rebelling legislators before the vote of confidence, he went on to recommend president’s rule when the government won the motion in a voice vote. He described the assembly proceedings as a “farce” and “unconstitutional”. It embarrassed both the centre, which rejected his recommendation, and his party, the Congress, which issued a statement saying that “as far as the governor is concerned, the party has nothing to do with him.” Bhardwaj then devised a face-saving exercise by seeking a second vote of confidence. Yeddyurappa won that too but the governor was not to sit quiet. Just days later he publicly reminded the chief minister that he was waiting for files relating to allegations of corruption.
The year 2011 began on an inauspicious note. The governor abandoned his customary joint address to the legislature and walked out after the opposition created ruckus over the ruling party’s description of him being a “Congress agent”. This was followed by another unsavoury incident. In response to the ruling party’s plan to hold a statewide protest against him, he shot back saying this was akin to “ulta chor kotwal ko daante”. By this time, Yeddyurappa had forwarded the cabinet resolution regarding the prosecution sanction. He was livid and wrote a strongly-worded letter protesting against the language and questioning the governor’s motive.
The prosecution sanction came less than 48 hours later and Chidambaram was wise enough to add that he was not going into the “merits” of the case while defending the governor’s right. Yeddyurappa may have his share of blemsishes and certainly his isn’t the cleanest of governments but by acting the way he has, Bhardwaj has not only lowered the dignity of his office he has created a political crisis which is contrary to his constitutional mandate. His opponents are right; the governor deserves to be recalled.
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