Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj on Saturday said that it was the prerogative of Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda to act on the allegations faced by his ministerial colleague C P Yogeshwar in connection with the Mega City Housing Project.
“I have received two representations from political parties. And political parties do mention a few allegations which have come to my notice and they are in the know of the government also. Now how seriously they will take, I cannot decide on the matters. I can simply draw the attention of the Chief Minister and it is upon him what standards of governance he wants to continue”, Mr. Bhardwaj told reporters in Bangalore.
Mr. Bhardwaj said the minister had met him in this connection but he had asked him to discuss the issue with Chief Minister as that would be the correct protocol.
“He came and I gave him appointment. I told him that the matter is before the Government of India, Ministry of Corporate Affairs and the Serious Fraud Investigations Office....they (ministers) are the choice of the government and the Chief Minister took them as minister.... now it is their choice and how they handle their ministers”, Mr. Bhardwaj said.
To a question on the delay in appointing new Lokayukta after the resignation of Shivaraj Patil, he said the delay is neither because of him (Bhardwaj) nor because of the dearth of good candidates. “The problem at the moment is with the people who decide whom to appoint as the Lokayukta”.
On the names of former Chief Justice of Kerala High Court S G Bannurmath and former Chief Justice of Punjab High Court N K Sodhi doing rounds for the post, Mr. Bhardwaj refused to react but hastened to add “the standards set by former Lokayukta Sanotsh Hegde are rather high to replicate”.
“If you want to have a Lokayukta, you should have a Lokayukta like him. If you compromise with corruption, then it is the most inefficacious institution”, he said.
Mr. Bhardwaj defended Shivaraj Patil as a “decent man, who resigned only because he was decent”.
