Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M. Karunanidhi on Thursday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Karnataka government of bringing pressure on B.V. Acharya to quit as Special Public Prosecutor in the ‘disproportionate assets' case against Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
Reacting to remarks made to the media by Mr. Acharya, who quit his post as Karnataka Advocate General rather than give up his role as special prosecutor, Mr. Karunanidhi said in a statement here: “His remarks show the extent to which the Karnataka government and the BJP have gone to get him removed from the case against Ms. Jayalalithaa.”
The DMK leader did not elaborate on the issue, but quoted profusely from reports that said Mr. Acharya had chosen to leave the AG's post rather than step down from his role as prosecutor, as he had been appointed for that assignment by the Karnataka High Court Chief Justice.
The trial in a Bangalore special court in Ms. Jayalalithaa's case is at an advanced stage. It was transferred from Chennai to Bangalore by the Supreme Court based on a petition by the DMK, alleging attempts to derail the trial.
Referring to Assembly Speaker D. Jayakumar hitting out at him for criticising the suspension of Leader of the Opposition Vijayakant from the Assembly, Mr. Karunanidhi said he had great respect for Mr. Jayakumar as he was occupying the Speaker's post. He had not made any adverse remarks against the Speaker, but only described the action against Mr. Vijayakant as an example of the anti-democratic trend under the present regime.
