K'taka crisis: NDA gets PM's assurance

On a day of hectic activities in the capital and in Bangalore, a National Democratic Alliance delegation headed by L K Advani met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and told him that Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj's report on Sunday was unconstitutional and should not be acted upon.

The delegation demanded that the government should initiate the process of recall of the Governor, whom, it said, had repeatedly "violated" the Constitution in letter and spirit.

NDA leaders such as Advani, Nithin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj, Sharad Yadav among others also submitted a memorandum to the PM, demanding that the Governor's report be rejected. They said that ever since Bharadwaj had assumed office, he has taken a confrontational approach and has always tried to destablise the BJP government in Karnataka.

The memorandum also stated that the Governor be recalled with immediate effect. The memorandum was submitted ahead of a Cabinet meeting of the Union government to be held on Tuesday. The meeting has been held to study the report of the governor which had recommended President's rule in Karnataka.

Earlier, the Cabinet committee had deferred the decision for Tuesday in the wake of divided opinion as some leaders had said that the Governor's recommendation could not be acted upon.

After the meeting, Advani told mediapersons, "The prime minister assured us that nothing unconstitutional will be done in Karnataka." The PM told them that he had not seen the report himself yet but the Home Minister had read it.

The delegation's meeting with the PM followed a meeting of top NDA leaders in the morning which decided that Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa will parade all his supporting MLAs before President Pratibha Patil. The MLAs led by the chief minister, who reached Delhi on Monday night, have been given time on Tuesday evening for meeting the President when they are expected to display the support of 121 MLAs in a House of 224.

In a bid to pressure on the Governor and the Centre, the state government urged the Governor to convene a session of the assembly from June to prove majority and to parade the MLAs before the President. Meanwhile, top official sources in the Central government said due process will be followed on the Governor's report and there is no urgency on the part of the Home Ministry to act on it.

"The Governor has sent the report in a hurry. There is a sense in the government that Bhardwaj has exceeded his brief," the sources said. They said there appears to be a personality clash between the chief minister and the Governor and this could be one of the reasons for sending the report just two days after the Supreme Court verdict. Nothing is going to happen soon, the sources said.

At the meeting of the NDA, the leaders strongly condemned the action of the Governor in sending a report and described his conduct as partisan, defying all constitutional norms and principles.

"There is absolutely no doubt that the Yeddyurappa government enjoys an overwhelming majority in the Assembly," senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley told mediapersons. The NDA delegation that met the Prime Minister demanded that the Governor's report should be rejected.

"The prime minister said I can assure you that we (government) will not do anything unconstitutional in Karnataka," the PM was quoted by Advani as saying. Advani maintained that the delegation told the prime minister of the Governor violating the Constitution time and again and "this was just the latest" instance.

The NDA delegation told the PM that the BJP government had the support of 121 MLAs and the Governor should have heeded the advice of the government to call for a special session of the Assembly and holding of a floor test. Advani said since this was not done, the Governor's report should be rejected.

Launching a campaign against the Governor, the BJP Legislature Party in Bangalore demanded his immediate recall for his "undemocratic" act. In a bid to counter him, the state cabinet recommended for the second time convening of the legislature session and decided to parade the MLAs before the President.

As the relationship between the BJP Government and the Governor worsened, Yeddyurappa said Bhardwaj had converted Raj Bhavan into "Congress Bhavan" and become "a laughing stock" by his recommmendation made on Sunday. Yeddyurappa said Bhardwaj's recall has become "inevitable".

 BJP's decision to take the 'save Yeddyurappa' campaign to the Rashtrapathi Bhavan was announced by party leader Venkaiah Naidu at a Legislature Party Meeting which passed a resolution dubbing Bhardwaj's recommendation as "politically motivated".

The resolution, demanding recall of Bhardwaj, said his recommendation to keep the Assembly in suspended animation was "without any substantive reason and against the spirit of the Constitution".

"Hence, we strongly demand the Central Government and the President to recall Bhardwaj with immediate effect," it said. Keeping the pressure on the Governor, an emergent Cabinet meeting on Monday sent another resolution requesting him to convene a session of both Houses of Legislatures from June 2, saying there were important business relating to budget had to be taken up.

Bhardwaj had earlier rejected a May 13 resolution seeking his nod to convene the Legislature session from Monday. As indications emerged from Centre that it was not in a hurry to act on the Governor's special report, the BJP MLAs dropped plans to a dharna in front of Raj Bhavan and instead chose another venue near a Mahatma Gandhi statue where anti-Governor slogans were raised.

Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs S Suresh Kumar said the cabinet discussed "informally" the conduct of the Governor, expressed its displeasure, but avoided passing any resolution on the issue.

This is the second time that the Governor has recommended President's rule since October last when the 11 rebel BJP MLAs and five independents withdrew support, throwing the first ever saffron party government in the south into a severe crisis.

With additional reportage from PTI