Has governor H.R. Bhardwaj played killjoy with chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa by not giving him an audience on Wednesday at the time that the chief minister had requested?
Giving rise to these muffled accusations about the “governor’s favouritism towards the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular)” which surfaced from the chief minister’s coterie on Wednesday evening was the fact that Mr Bhardwaj was seen closeted with JD(S) state president H.D. Kumaraswamy for nearly an hour earlier in the day, but was said to have ignored the CM’s request for audience at 3 pm in the afternoon.
“Mr Yeddyurappa had sought an appointment with the governor at 3 pm, but the governor’s office gave the CM’s office an appointment only at 6.15 pm. This is terribly unfair as the governor saw fit to spend quality time with Mr Kumaraswamy earlier in the day,” sources close to CM complained.
The governor’s office has categorically refuted these allegations stating that the timings were not shifted intentionally.
“The governor has been busy all day long, and an appointment was given to the chief minister only when a free slot was made available from the governor’s calendar of events. Moreover, the CM did not deem fit to meet the governor even once in the past three days when it was quite clear that his government would see some rebel activity,” Raj Bhavan sources said.
However, the one man who has gained from this situation is Mr Kumaraswamy, whose gameplan has fallen into place without a glitch so far.
All action shifted to Raj Bhavan early Wednesday morning where Mr Kumaraswamy was seen closeted with Mr Bhardwaj in a meeting that lasted almost an hour.
The former chief minister made a quiet entry at around 10.15 am from the backside entrance of Raj Bhavan, with resignation letters from the 19 BJP MLAs.