Raj Bhavan a prison for me: Karna Guv

Karnataka Governor HR Bharadwaj, who is maintaining a low profile after the Centre rejected his demand for President?s Rule, on Thursday said the Raj Bhavan is like a prison for him.

“Raj Bhavan is like a prison and I am like a jailed bird here,” Bhardwaj said.

Asked to react on the Centre?s decision, he said: “I am not a politician or a thinker. I am a good advocate.”

Amid the ongoing Karnataka crisis, Bharadwaj has already agreed to convene the assembly session from June 2.

However, Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa said Bharadwaj should resign from his chair now that the Centre has rejected his demand for President?s Rule in the state.

Rejecting Bhardwaj?s report that cited a ?constitutional breakdown?, the Centre on May 22 night ruled out the possibility of establishing President’s Rule in Karnataka advised by Bhardwaj.

The rejection of the Governor’s advice was expected even as the Ministry of Home Affairs is to issue an advisory to the B S Yeddyurappa government in Karnataka on the issues raised by the Bhardwaj.

The decision was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on a night the PM threw a dinner to celebrate the completion of two years of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) II government at the centre.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters that the Governor’s recommendation was not accepted by the cabinet.

The chief minister and the Governor were on a collision course with the governor sending a special report to Centre advising President’s Rule and Yeddyurappa led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanding ouster of the Governor.

Both accused each other of subverting the Constitution.

The BJP, led by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, on Saturday staged protests across Karnataka against Governor H R Bharadwaj as the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs met in New Delhi to discuss his recommendations on imposing President?s Rule in the state.

Yeddyurappa had paraded his MLAs before the President in New Delhi to show his strength and demanded removal of Bhardwaj after the governor advised President’s rule in the state.

The BJP in Karnataka, beefed by the renewed backing of 16 legislators who had earlier rebelled, slammed the governor?s call for President?s rule in Karnataka as illegal, unconstitutional and “a murder of democracy.”

The governor had recommended President?s rule citing a constitutional breakdown in the state and emboldened by a Supreme Court verdict overturning the suspensions of the 16 MLAs last year by the assembly speaker.

Bhardwaj alleged that B S Yeddyurappa and Speaker K G Bopaiah misused the constitutional provisions to win trust vote in October last year.

A total of 16 MLAs — five independents and 11 from the BJP who had rebelled against the CM — were suspended by Speaker K G Bopaiah on Oct 11 last year, hours before B S Yeddyurappa’s trust vote, allowing him to win by a wafer-thin margin.

But all the MLAs in a volte-face backed Yeddyurappa a week ago.