Karnataka governor should resign: Sharad Pawar

NCP chief Sharad Pawar said today that Karnakata Governor Vajubhai Vala should resign after the three-day-old B S Yeddyurappa government in the state collapsed just before a crucial trust vote in the assembly.

Pawar said Vala's actions have damaged democracy.

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa today resigned instead of facing the scheduled trust vote in the Karnataka assembly. The trust vote was ordered by the Supreme Court on a petition filed by the Congress and JD(S) challenging Governor Vala's decision inviting the BJP to form the government in the state.

"I congratulate Congress and JD(S) MLAs for not falling prey to allurements. The BJP should not have made haste to make Yeddyurappa chief minister when it did not have a (clear) majority," Pawar told reporters in Mumbai.

BJP's decision to make Yeddyurappa chief minister was a "blow to democracy", he said.

"The governor of Karnataka should keep the prestige of his post intact. He, too, has dealt a blow to the democracy, and therefore he should resign," he said.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said Yeddyurappa's resignation is the start of the end of "dictatorship and high-handedness", apparently referring to the BJP's efforts to manage enough support from the newly-elected MLAs ahead of the trust vote.

"What happened in Karnataka was against democracy. It's the end of a perverted mindset which believed that elections can be won and governments can be formed by any means," Raut said.

Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan said it was a historic day and democracy has won. "The BJP was indulging in horse-trading. It stopped due to Supreme Court's decision," he said.

Yeddyurappa should also apologise for walking out of the assembly after announcing his resignation "while the national anthem was going on", Chavan said.