This refers to the editorial “Mr Yeddyurappa in the dock” (January 24). The Karnataka governor’s extreme action against the state’s chief minister seems unprecedented. As for the chief minister’s misconduct, the view is correct, but from a different angle. The present chief minister has not learnt the art of corruption as his predecessors and, therefore, got caught red-handed. Had he gone for pure cash deals, nothing could have been proved against him. As for the scale of misconduct, there have been bigger corruption scandals affecting the state administration in the past.
There have been precedents for such actions by other governors vis-a-vis chief ministers but interestingly, in all such cases, the chief minister belonged to the opposition parties and the Centre was ruled by the Congress. If we take into account all these aspects, the governor’s action in Karnataka points to the politicisation of the issue. The governor cannot interfere with the local government that has been duly elected by the public after complying with all the rules and regulations of the democratic process. To conclude, the governor’s action has resulted in a break-down of the administration in the state.
K V Rao, Bangalore
