Bonhomie over, Yeddyurappa sets deadline for Governor Bhardwaj

Virtually serving an ultimatum to H R Bhardwaj, chief minister B S Yeddyurappa today threatened to plunge into agitation against the governor's action recommending President's rule in Karnataka if he failed to give his approval by this evening for convening the assembly from June 2.

Virtually serving an ultimatum to H R Bhardwaj, chief minister B S Yeddyurappa on Thursday threatened to plunge into agitation against the governor's action recommending President's rule in Karnataka if he failed to give his approval by this evening for convening the assembly from June 2.

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"By this evening, news should reach me (from Raj Bhavan) that approval has been given for the (legislature) session," Yeddyurappa told reporters in Bangalore, a day after a brief bonhomie between the two amidst a raging political war.

Otherwise, the chief minister said he would embark on a state-wide tour on an open-jeep addressing road-side rallies to build public opinion from Friday.

A ministerial delegation, led by Yeddyurappa, met the governor on Wednesday and requested him to convene the session to pass the full budget.

Bhardwaj told him that he was awaiting decision of the Centre on his recommendation to impose President's rule and asked the chief minister to wait for a "day or two" on the issue of his approval for the session.

He flayed the Congress for its campaign seeking the ouster of the BJP government, saying the main opposition party is not honouring the people's mandate, seeking to topple a duly elected government.

The Congress neither has the capacity nor strength to face the people, he said, noting that the BJP had won all the three assembly by-elections recently.

"I have dealt with them respectfully so far. Henceforth, I will expose their immoralities and scandals," Yeddyurappa said. "I will not leave that easily".