Thaindian News

New Delhi/Bangalore May 16 (IANS) The battle for Karnataka shifted to New Delhi Monday as Chief Minister B.S. Yedyyurappa, along with 120 supporting MLAs, arrived here to prove their majority before President Pratibha Patil and senior NDA leaders met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to prevent the sacking of the government.

The prime minister held parleys with senior colleagues on the report by Governor H.R. Bhardwaj on the situation in the state.

“The prime minister assured us that no unconstitutional action will be taken,” senior BJP leader L.K. Advani, who led the NDA team, told reporters after the meeting.

Advani said the BJP had the support of 121 legislators in the 225-member house. They will meet the President Tuesday evening, he added.

BJP president Nitin Gadkari, senior party leaders Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) convenor Sharad Yadav of Janata Dal-United were also part of the delegation.

Advani said the prime minister told them that he has not seen the report of the governor yet.

The delegation also demanded immediate recall of Bhardwaj as “his actions since becoming governor have been unconstitutional”, Advani told reporters outside the prime minister’s residence in New Delhi.

The development came as Yeddyurappa landed in the national capital with all his 120 legislators to meet Manmohan Singh and President Pratibha Patil to urge them to reject Bhardwaj’s report.

Advani said Patil had given appointment for 5.30 p.m. Tuesday.

Earlier, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh discussed the volatile Karnataka issue with senior ministers including Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Defence Minister A.K. Antony and External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, who is a former state chief minister.

Sources said the government appeared to be cautiously treading on the issue, as any hasty action like sacking of the state government may trigger political and legal battles.

The latest crisis began with Governor Bhardwaj Sunday reportedly recommending the dismissal of the state government in the light of last week’s Supreme Court verdict which lifted the disqualification of 16 legislators of the state.

In a day of volatile rivalries, BJP leader Arun Jaitley said the governor should be recalled as he had acted in a “partisan, arbitrary and unconstitutional way”.

The Congress party hit back, saying that Yeddyyurappa was heading an “illegal government and should resign”, though it avoided demanding the sacking of the government.

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat also demanded that the “corrupt BJP government in Karnataka should resign”. But Karat said the party was against the use of Article 356, enabling the sacking of the government.

Advani also demanded the recall of Bhardwaj, saying the governor had not been impartial and non-partisan in his actions.

“He (Bhardwaj) just cannot do it. (It is) not his capacity to be detached. Partisanship comes out in every single action or utterance,” Advani said.

He said the Supreme Court judgement reversing the Karnataka High Court decision of disqualifying 11 BJP rebel MLAs and five independents ahead of the Oct 10, 2010 floor test in the assembly had come as a “blessing in disguise” for the party and its numbers in the assembly had gone up.

Karnataka will be hit Tuesday by pro and anti-Bhardwaj rallies. The BJP will hold demonstrations against Bhardwaj in all the 30 districts of the state, while the Congress said it will hold rallies at several places in support of Bhardwaj’s recommendation dismissing the “corrupt Yeddyurappa government”.

The Yeddyurappa cabinet has decided to convene the assembly to meet for 10 days from June 2 and sought Bhardwaj’s nod for it, Law Minister S. Suresh Kumar said.

The BJP legislators’ party also met and passed a resolution stating it unanimously supports Yeddyurappa’s leadership.