BJP wants governor recalled

“The BJP is shocked and outraged by the partisan and unconstitutional behaviour of the Governor of Karnataka, HR Bharadwaj, who has thrown all established norms and gubernatorial conduct to the winds by his highly objectionable communication to the Hon’ble Speaker of the State Assembly,” said Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj.

“The tone, tenor and content of his letter to the Hon’ble Speaker today (Sunday) make it clear that the Governor is determined to interfere with the legislative process and infringe on the authority of a constitutional functionary, namely, the Speaker,” the BJP leader said in a statement.  She alleged that the governor has, in effect, threatened that if the Hon’ble Speaker does not act in a particular manner as directed by Raj Bhavan, the outcome of the vote of confidence in the Assembly scheduled for Monday, October 11, 2010, will not be “acceptable.”

“This is a brazen attempt to influence the result of the vote and is in total violation of the letter and spirit of successive Supreme Court verdicts specifying that the floor of the House is the only place to determine the majority or otherwise of a government. It bears recalling that the governor has been acting in a manner prejudicial to constitutional governance in the State of Karnataka and the BJP has repeatedly pointed out his overt political partisanship,” Swaraj said.

She said the governor’s latest diktat is almost reminiscent of the illegal actions of former UP Governor Romesh Bhandari in 1996, which had to be overturned by the then President of India as well as the Allahabad High Court. In view of this unconstitutional threat to a constitutional functionary and interference in the domain of the legislature, it is clear that the Karnataka governor has showed he is unfit to hold the high constitutional office.