Karnataka ministers march to Raj Bhavan over Yeddyurappa's prosecution

Bangalore, Jan 22 (ANI): An eight-member ministerial team on Saturday staged a march to Raj Bhavan demanding that Karnataka Governor H S Bhardwaj provide them a copy of the order according sanction for prosecuting Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.

The team led by Karnataka Law Minister S Suresh Kumar walked the distance of more than one km from Yeddyurappa's official residence to Raj Bhavan.

Besides Suresh Kumar, the other ministers were V Somanna, Basavaraj Bommai, Murugesh Nirani, Lakshman Savadi, Revunaik Belamagi, Govind Karjol and C H Vijayashankar.

BJP called a statewide shutdown today to protest against the Governor's action.

The Governor has directed DGP Ajai Kumar Singh to take all security measures to ensure that there is no trouble during the shutdown.

Reacting to the sanction, Yeddyurappa said that the Governor was behaving as an agent of Congress and the JDS. "This is nothing but a broad daylight murder of democracy and justice," he said.

A press communique issued by the Governor's Secretariat last night said Bhardwaj passed the order under section 19(1) of Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 197 of Criminal Procedure Code for prosecution in an appropriate court of law. n a letter to Yeddyurappa, Bhardwaj told him that he cannot put a lid on serious allegations of corruption.

The Governor said the Chief Minister did not furnish any details to his letter of December 15 seeking factual information on the allegations levelled against him. (ANI)