'Governor should stay out of political controversies'

As governor H R Bhardwaj’s action summoning three ministers on a disqualification petition sparked off a debate, senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu today said the governor should act as the state’s guardian and not get involved in political controversies.

“The governor should act as the guardian of the state and guide the government, and help the state and not get involved in controversies,” he told reporters here. Naidu was reacting to reports of Bhardwaj coming down on Infrastructure Minister and mining magnate G Janardhana Reddy who questioned his constitutional authority to summon him and two other colleagues on a petition filed by a Congress MLA seeking their disqualification on grounds of conflict of interest.

“The governor cannot become a judge. If there is something wrong, the judiciary is there,” he said referring to the Governor summoning ministers and holding a “court-like inquiry.” Early this week, the Governor began proceedings on the petition by summoning Janardhana, his brother and Revenue Minister G Karunakara Reddy and Health Minister B Sreeramulu, seeking legal assistance on the petition.

The petition alleged the three were indulging in illegal mining and their continuing in Cabinet would influence decisions in favour of their businesses. On the sting operation in which Sri Rama Sene leader Pramod Muthalik was allegedly caught on camera accepting money to stage riots, Naidu said BJP did not approve of Sene’s methods and believed law would take its own course.

“The BJP and RSS have nothing to do with the Ram Sene. We do not approve of the methods used by the Ram Sene. We have no sympathy towards the Ram Sene,” he said, adding “The law will take its own course.” Naidu said that in the last elections in fact the Sene had negatively impacted the BJP with “all the wrong publicity surrounding it and some misinformation” that went around. He demanded a uniform policy while dealing with such organisations.