K'taka: BJP, JDS seek removal of Lokayukta on son's arrest issue

The Bhartiya Janata Party and Janata Dal (S) in Karnataka on Friday sought state Lokayukta Y Bhaskar Rao's removal during the ongoing session of the state legislature.

The Bhartiya Janata Party and Janata Dal (S) in Karnataka on Friday sought state Lokayukta Y Bhaskar Rao's removal during the ongoing session of the state legislature.

Rao's son, Ashwin Rao, has been booked for blackmailing a senior bureaucrat.

According to an FIR registered by the Lokayukta on Wednesday, Ashwin Rao demanded Rs one crore from a government official inside the Lokayukta office on May 4 to save him from a raid by the anti corruption agency.

Similar to an impeachment proceeding, the motion for removal of the Lokayukta under Section 6 requires the support of at least two-thirds or 150 of the 224 MLAs in the house.

Together, the BJP and the JDS have 80 MLAs but right now, only 55 MLAs from both the parties have signed the letter, submitted to the speaker of the Assembly seeking a removal motion.

The speaker has convened a meeting of the Special Business Advisory Committee on Monday which will set a date for a formal motion for the removal of Bhaskar Rao in the assembly.

Even if 150 MLAs do not support his sacking, Bhaskar Rao, who is the former chief justice of the Karnataka high court, will be the first Lokayukta since 1986 to have a removal motion tabled against him for alleged corruption.

A similar motion was considered against his predecessor Shivraj Patil after a media expose showed that he and his wife had been illegally allotted housing society plots. Rather than face the ignominy, Patil resigned.

Bhaskar Rao, however, has been refusing to step down ever since the scandal broke out a fortnight ago. He has consistently defended his son, saying he was not in Bengaluru when the official was blackmailed.

Incidentally, Bhaskar Rao too was involved in the same plot allotment scandal as his predecessor but the previous BJP government ignored this and appointed him as Lokayukta amid a huge uproar.

Several organizations including the Aam Admi Party and the Bar Council of Karnataka have been holding demonstrations in different parts of the State demanding Bhaskar Rao's resignation.