NEW DELHI: With Congress reeling under an extended cycle of election defeats, former law minister HR Bhardwaj has put a question mark on the rare triumph it notched in Karnataka, saying the win came in spite of the party. He also said Congress leaders were “chummy” with the BJP brass.
Bhardwaj, who was governor of Karnataka in UPA-2, said while UPA had become infamous for corruption, some Congress leaders bluntly asked him to avoid acting against the Reddy brothers of Bellary and against the then BJP chief minister.
“These leaders, this leader, told me that I should desist from taking action against Reddy brothers and chief minister B S Yeddyurappa. These Congress leaders were very chummy with the BJP brass,” he told media.
However, the former governor said his “sense of duty” made him initiate action as he could not ignore the flagrant violations brought to his notice by anti-corruption crusaders.
While the Reddy brothers added to the woes of BJP regime in the state, the allegations of personal corruption against Yeddyurappa sank the saffron outfit’s credibility. The Lingayat strongman broke away after BJP was forced to remove him as chief minister. Congress swept the assembly polls held in May 2013.
It all started when Bhardwaj sanctioned the chief minister’s prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act in 2011. Yeddyurappa had accused him of acting as a “Congress agent”.
“If there is a strong Congress government in Karnataka, it is not because of Congress leadership but because of the honest actions I took as governor,” HR Bhardwaj said.
The claim is interesting as Karnataka provided the rare breather for Congress when it was on a losing spree across the country. The victory also allowed the Congress to counter-attack BJP over corruption when the Manmohan Singh government was under fire for mega scams.
The former Gandhi family loyalist last week broke his silence, slamming the Congress leadership for not taking responsibility for the controversial decisions of the Manmohan Singh government.
Bhardwaj said, “I felt very sad when the former PM got court summons in the coal scam case. I went to meet him and expressed my support, offered my services.”
According to him, corruption in Congress went out of control in UPA-2 which resulted in its unprecedented defeat in Lok Sabha elections, winning just 44 seats. “The nation assessed UPA-2. India Against Corruption became the biggest movement after JP Andolan (of 1975),” he said, adding Congress should “introspect why it has gone down so badly”.
Having been law minister in UPA-1, Bhardwaj noted that Congress woes started when it was hauled before the judiciary over alleged scams, insinuating that the government tried to get away by influencing the courts.
“There were four law ministers in UPA-2. They were all very bad. The judges expect basic courtesies from governments and want to remain independent. But Congress people don’t like it and as a result, the judges became suspicious,” he said.
