Bengaluru: The Karnataka Cabinet decided on Thursday to “advise” Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot that he withdraw his show-cause notice to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, describing it as "a concerted effort to destabilise a lawfully-elected majority government”.
Chaired by Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, the Cabinet spent five hours discussing Gehlot’s notice, which could be a precursor to him sanctioning Siddaramaiah’s prosecution in a site allotment scam at the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA).
Apart from withdrawing the notice, Gehlot was urged to reject the petition seeking Siddaramaiah's prosecution by activist TJ Abraham who, the Cabinet said, "comes with criminal antecedents" of "blackmail and extortion".
The Cabinet pointed out that Gehlot issued the show-cause notice to Siddaramaiah on July 26 even as then Chief Secretary Rajneesh Goel had submitted a report to him on the same day on the MUDA case. Siddaramaiah had seven days to reply.
“A notice was issued to the CM in such a hurry...without any investigation or inquiry. This is murder of democracy and the Constitution,” Shivakumar said after chairing his first Cabinet meeting as Siddaramaiah had recused. “We're confident that the Governor will not damage his reputation. Regardless of political pressure...definitely, he will withdraw (the notice),” he added.
Shivakumar said there was nothing illegal in Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathi receiving alternative sites from MUDA for “usurping” her land.
“She didn’t ask for sites at any particular locality. What’s illegal here? Isn’t she an independent lady trying to protect her interests? Had she encroached upon someone else’s land? Did the CM influence the process?” he said and maintained that Gehlot has no case to sanction Siddaramaiah’s prosecution.
In his show-cause notice, the Governor stated that allegations against Siddaramaiah “are of serious nature and prime facie seem plausible”. This, the Cabinet said, is an “undeniable conclusion that there is prejudging of the issue”.
Siddaramaiah's legal adviser AS Ponnanna said an investigating authority such as the Lokayukta should have sought prosecution sanction.
Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda added to this by recalling then Governor HR Bhardwaj sanctioning the prosecution of BJP chief minister BS Yediyurappa in 2011. "A private individual had approached a magistrate. The magistrate said Governor's consent was required. Upon that, the sanction was given. Today, no magistrate or police has sought sanction," he said, adding that Raj Bhavan sat on prosecution sanction requests against former ministers Shashikala Jolle, Janardhan Reddy and Murugesh Nirani.
"If the Governor doesn't value our decision, we'll explore other steps. We'll exhaust all means one by one before the last resort," Gowda said, referring to a decision seeking Gehlot's ouster.