Hitting back hard at Karnataka Governor H R Bharadwaj, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Saturday evening said that he is not a coward, and will not turn around and run but will face all the problems he faces and will surely come out victorious.
Addressing a packed press conference in Bengaluru an hour after two complaints were filed against him following the sanction for prosecution by the Governor, the CM said that the Governor should have had the basic courtesy to at least talk to him before issuing such an order.
"This order smells of malafide. He has not sent me a copy of the order, neither has he given me a chance to explain my stand before passing such an order. Why was he in such a hurry to pass an order when there are two other forums probing the same case?" Yeddyurappa asked.
Also Read: Battling charges, the road ahead for Yeddyurappa
On being asked whether he would step down, Yeddyurappa counter-questioned would it be sensible to just step down when a complaint is filed.
"I have no reason to resign and I will not, since I am confident that I will come out clean and as an honest person at the end of this," he said.
Yeddyurappa also refused to pass any comments on the statements made by Home Minister P Chidambaram who had said that the Bharatiya Janata Party had taken to the streets. He said he has great respect for Chidambaram and would prove his innocence.
"The Governor has come to Karnataka with a malafide intention. He has not only converted the Raj Bhavan into an opposition office, but has been acting against the BJP government. A Governor ideally should advise the government, but in the case of Bharadwaj, he has done nothing but acted as an agent of the United Progressive Alliance and issued statements against the government after every public function," Yeddyurappa said.
"This is unbecoming of a Governor especially Bharadwaj who has so much experience. None of his statements have helped the government function in peace but each statement has had a bad intention, and on most occasions it has been insignificant. The Governor is unable to digest the image and the support of the people that I have. I have time and again proven that I enjoy the support of the people. Be it the corporation elections or the local body polls, the people have voted for the BJP and the Governor cannot digest this. What more can I say about him who we all know is an agent of the Congress and the Janata Dal Secular," he added.
"The Governor has over stepped his brief and has been speaking a lot. I kept quiet respecting the chair, but he has no such consideration and does not want the government to function. I am going with my MLAs and the MPs to New Delhi and will complain against him with the President of India on Monday. I sincerely hope and wish that he functions with more dignity," Yeddyurappa also said.
"Why is the opposition making such a mess of everything? Why don't they come to the assembly and discuss? I will go ahead with the budget session on February 3 and I sincerely hope that the opposition will play a more constructive role," the chief minister appealed.
"The father son duo of Deve Gowda and H D Kumaraswamy are making a lot of noise. Do you think I have nothing against them? Do you think that they have been very honest? Let them come down and meet me in the assembly and I am ready to debate with them about their misdeeds. I have had volumes of documents against these opposition leaders. I did not make any noise about it since I want to focus on the development of the state first. But the opposition has mistaken this to be my weakness. Don't hide and disrupt the assembly proceedings. Come there and I will show you the proof," he warned the opposition.
"The matter against me is now in the court. I will stand there and fight the cases and come out clean. I have faith in the court and I am not going to run away anywhere," Yeddyurappa said.
"I want to thank the people of Karnataka for making Saturday's statewide bandh a success. The people have expressed their anger against the Governor and they have not taken lightly the 'thief' statement against me. This statement has hurt the sentiments of the people of Karnataka. The success of the bandh is only an indication that they are disgusted with the Governor his insignificant letters, statements against the government and also his agent like role in the recent Karnataka government crisis," he added.
