BJP attacks Karnataka governor for opposing honour to writer

"The Governor of Karnataka has used, rather misused his position and interfered with a university's offer to confer doctorate to an eminent writer in Kannada, Chidanand Murthy," BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said.

Condemning the Governor for opposing the hounour to the noted writer, She alleged that Bhardwaj found this objectionable only because Murthy "probably spoke in favour of one commission's finding".

"The writers in Karnataka have also stood up against this kind of an interference, political misuse of power, where the governor should rise above the situation," she said.

"We find that he is completely steeped in Congress culture and unable to get over it," Sitharaman said.

The principal opposition has been at loggerheads with the Karnataka governor for the last several months. It had objected to his recommendation to President Pratibha Patil that President's Rule be imposed in the state after some MLAs from the ruling party defected.

Central BJP leaders had even met the President to demand his removal, arguing that he was acting as a Congress agent.

Bhardwaj, later in the day, gave his nod to the conferring of the honorary degree on Chidanand.