Sodhi as Lokayukta? No way, says Guv

“It amounts to non-application of mind to consider anyone from the Securities and Exchange Board of India for the Lokayukta’s post,” the governor said when asked whether Sodhi, who heads the Securities Appellate Tribunal, was being considered for the top job.

Bhardwaj was speaking to the media at the Air Force Day function held at the Command Hospital on Saturday.

“A Lokayukta should be a chief justice (of a law court),” he said, adding that the name of S R Bannuramath, Chief Justice of the High Court Kerala, was also doing the rounds for the post. He said all this was pure speculation. A delay in the appointment of a new Lokayukta after the resignation of Shivaraj Patil was neither because of him (Bhardwaj) nor because of the dearth of good candidates, he added.

Bhardwaj, who had a running battle with former chief minister B S Yeddyruppa on various issues, including corruption, favoured a person like Justice Santosh Hegde to become the next Lokayukta in the State.

On the allegations against Minister C P Yogeshwar in connection with the Mega City housing project, the governor said it was for Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda to decide “what standards of governance he wants to continue”.

“I have received two representations from political parties. They did mention a few allegations that have come to my notice and the government too knows about it,” he said.

Yogeshwar had visited Bhardwaj over the same issue, only to be told by the governor to meet the chief minister following protocol.

“He came to me and I gave him an appointment. I told him that the matter is before the Government of India, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, and the Serious Fraud Investigations Office. The ministers were chosen by Sadananda after a reshuffle, and now, it is his decision as to whom to keep (in his Cabinet),” he said.