Congress rules against President's rule in Karnataka due to legal reprimand

The Centre was fully convinced that the BJP's Karnataka Government is illegal and surviving due to "subversion of Constitution" and yet it decided against Governor Hansraj Bhardwaj's categorical recommendation to impose the President's rule because of political reasons and fear of another judicial rebuke.

Had the Congress not been on a shaky ground itself in the wake of corruption cases and embarrassment caused by the CVC controversy, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa wouldn't have been smiling today, a top source in the government said.

Responding to a question about the illegality of the Yeddyurappa government at the daily GoM (group of ministers) press briefing resumed on Monday, Home Minister P Chidambaram said, " I am not here to give a verdict of the legality or illegality of the government.

But any fair- minded person will know what the Assembly Speaker did if he goes through the strong strictures passed by the Supreme Court." This is by no means a rejection of the Governor's contention even if his suggestion for use of Article 356 was not accepted by the Union Cabinet.

When asked what was the constitutional validity of an advisory, Chidambaram said, "Such advisories had been issued in the past. We sent one when Christians were targeted in Karnataka and one in Bengal, too." Chidamabaram's forceful defence of the Governor also indicated the Centre did believe he overreached himself or acted with malafide intentions, as he emphatically ruled out recall of Bhardwaj.

In fact, the decision to send an advisory is being viewed as a face- saver for the Governor who took an extraordinary risk of highlighting the illegality of Yeddyurappa's majority even as he didn't have a water- tight case for dismissal.

The Home Minister saw no problem in the Governor's decision to combine issues like corruption with the majority question. The Home Minister admitted that these issues might not have fulfilled the legal requirements for imposition of President's rule.