CM-Governor tussle heats up in Karnataka

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has reacted sharply to the statements of Governor H R Bharadwaj and has said that he would meet him on Friday and set the record straight.

This comes in the wake of the governor of Karnataka saying that if the chief minister wanted he could furnish a list of corrupt persons in his government.

While Yeddyurappa's close aides have denied receiving any such list of corrupt ministers, they seek to know on what basis such allegations are being made.

Yeddyurappa, who is in Raichur presently, has said clearly that he would meet Governor Bharadwaj and set the record straight. In addition he also said that he would be writing to President Pratibha Patil and would ask if this is the role governors are supposed to play.

Are governors supposed to carry out campaigns against chief ministers, he would also ask the President.

Bharadwaj on the other hand maintains that he has not come to a conclusion based on assumptions and neither is he carrying out any campaign. The governor says that the list that he has recieved is on the basis of complaints received both from the opposition as well as the people in general.

"I have been an advocate for 30 years and I abide by the law and this list which I speak about is based on facts and not on assumptions," Bharadwaj said.

The list which Bharadwaj is speaking about has not been made public as yet, but according to sources, it comprises the names of the chief minister, the mining magnates turned politicians Reddy brothers, Katta Submramanya Naidu and others.

However, sources also point out that according to the governor there are just a handful of honest ministers in the Yeddyurappa government and these are Dr V S Acharya, Vishweshwar Kageri, Suresh Kumar and Dr Mumtaz Ali Khan.

The maximum number of complaints that the Raj Bhavan has received is against the chief minister and the Reddy brothers.

The land scam is the main allegation against Yeddyurappa who almost lost his seat some time back because of this. In addition to this the governor also says that the allegations against the Reddy brothers in the mining scam are immense and it is unfortunate that the chief minister has not acted upon these complaints.

However, Yeddyurappa says that these allegations are baseless and these issues are being probed. The land scam is being probed by both the Lokayukta of Karnataka Justice N Santosh Hegde and the Justice B Padmaraj commission of inquiry.

The mining scam is already under the Lokayukta and he is expected to give his report in a couple of months.