BJP complains to Prez about Bhardwaj 'tirade', seeks removal

The delegation, also comprising 23 Karnataka MPs, handed over a memorandum to Patil in which they complained about the "tirade" against the state government by Bhardwaj since the day he took charge in June last year and said his removal was a "must to restore Constitutional order".

"We appealed to the President to recall the Karnataka Governor as he has been exhibiting an extra-constitutional and confrontationist attitude. In the memorandum, we have given several instances, wherein, it is evident that right from the beginning he has been harbouring a political agenda", Advani told reporters after meeting Patil at Rashtrapati Bhawan.

The move to meet Patil comes in the wake of heightened tension between Bhardwaj and Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa after the Governor sanctioned that an FIR be registered against the BJP leader in a corruption case.

Terming Bhardwaj's appointment as a step to "end democracy" in the country, the BJP said the "mindset and conduct" of the governor was motivated by extraneous and collateral purposes, less as a Constitutional functionary and more as a Congress activist.

Attacking Bhardwaj for the steps he took on the graft charges faced by Yeddyurappa, the BJP said that a Governor cannot have "malafide for political reasons and substitute himself as commission of enquiry or the Lokayukta".