Bengaluru: Days after attacking Congress on the ground of corruption, party veteran and former Law Minister Hansraj Bhardwaj has dropped another bombshell. In an interview to a national daily, Bhardwaj has accused party leaders of asking him to go slow on charges of corruption against BJP leaders in Karnataka.
It may be recalled that while Bhardwaj was the Governor of Karnataka, he sanctioned prosecution of then CM BS Yeddyurappa under the Prevention of Corruption Act. At that time he was attacked by BJP for acting as a Congress agent. But now Bhardwaj claims that he did it as a ‘sense of duty’. According to the veteran politician, many Congress leaders asked him not to take action against Reddy brothers and Yeddyurappa. Subsequently after Bhardwaj’s action, BJP was forced to remove its talisman leader from the post of CM. The saffron party soon faced crisis with Yeddy forming his own breakaway outfit. While it didn’t achieve electoral success, it managed to ensure that BJP was booted out of power in 2013, an aberration to the prevailing national trend of that time.
Bhardwaj now claims credit for Congress’s win in the Southern state. Earlier, last week the former Law Minister attacked the party on various issues accusing certain members of bringing about its downfall through extended bouts of corruption, while adding that senior members have been kicked out of the party.
“When the Congress was in power, 10 Janpath Road had no role to play in Cabinet meets. It was a closed door meeting. Only ministers participated and there was full freedom to speak one’s mind. Those days, laws were being passed without even a discussion,” Bhardwaj said.
“Manmohan Singh is an honest man. The court has issued summons to him, and he has gone because he believes in the rule of law. But imagine how much waywardness has been present for even him to be summoned. Rajiv Gandhi was an innocent. These corrupt people had pitted him against VP Singh. His friends abandoned him, but we never left his side even after he died,” he added.
