Advani wants Karnataka Govt to address Hegde's concerns fully

"I have conveyed my deep gratitude to Shri Santosh Hegde for the immediate and warm response he made to my request to continue as Lokayukta of Karnataka...I am sure that the state government will take full care of his concerns," Advani wrote in the blog.

Hegde, who had quit after accusing the BJP government in Karnataka of being indifferent to corruption, withdrew his resignation on July 3 saying, "I equate Advani to my father, his word is my command. I cannot disobey him."

In his blog, Advani eulogised Hegde's father Justice K S Hegde, saying he could have become President of India but was instead chosen as Speaker of Lok Sabha post-emergency.

Advani reminisced how he recommended the name of Justice K S Hegde for the post of President of India to then Prime Minister Morarji Desai. However, Desai preferred N Sanjeev Reddy for the post and Justice Hegde, who had successfully contested his first Lok Sabha election, was then elected as Speaker of the Lower House.

The BJP Parliamentary Party Chairman claimed that Desai liked his suggestion but said since Reddy was "keen" on being named the President and had failed to do so earlier as a Congress candidate for the post, he should be preferred. Hegde was then nominated to the post of Speaker.

"...And that is how Shri Sanjiva Reddy became Rashtrapati in 1977, and Justice Hegde became the Lok Sabha Speaker," Advani said. Advani also criticised then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for superseding Justice Hegde while appointing Justice A N Ray as the next Chief Justice of India. "...It is only recently while looking back at the dark days of the Emergency that I discovered that this superseding of judges (K S Hegde, Justice J M Shelat, and Justice A N Grover) had a lot to do with the election petition against Mrs Gandhi, and particularly with Justice Hegde personally...every one now knows that it was the Allahabad High Court verdict in that case which triggered the Emergency," he said.

Quoting Bishan Tandon's book on events leading to imposition of Emergency, 'PMO Diary', Advani claimed that Indira Gandhi was "terribly afraid" of Justice Hegde becoming the CJI.

"That, she apprehended, would have a serious impact on the election petition against her," he wrote in the blog titled 'Justice Hegde could have been the President'.