In a stand contradicting Governor H.R. Bhardwaj’s claim on ending the Lokayukta impasse soon, Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda on Tuesday said he has not received any official reply from him to any letters on appointing Justice S.R. Bannurmath for the post.
“I had written letters to the Governor on the issue of appointment of Justice Bannurmath as the new Lokayukta. I haven’t received any reply from him,” Mr. Gowda told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.
As the Governor has not replied to his letters, Mr. Gowda said there was no need for discussing the issue with him.
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Mr. Gowda’s comments come two days after Mr. Bhardwaj’s claim that the Chief Minister had promised to come up with another name after consulting his party leaders.
Mr. Bhardwaj had also claimed that things had started “moving in the right direction” and he expected the matter to be resolved in seven to ten days.
The BJP government had recommended former Kerala High Court Chief Justice Bannurmath as successor to former Supreme Court Judge Shivaraj Patil who resigned in October last over a land allotment controversy.
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Mr. Bhardwaj has refused to accept Justice Bannurmath’s name citing reports about similar charges against him while the ruling BJP has been aggressively pushing his case.