Congressmen fear Siddaramaiah goverment’s relations with Vala could get strained
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and new Karnataka governor Vajubhai Vala share a lighter moment during Mr Vala's swearing-in ceremony at Raj Bhavan in Bengaluru on Monday. -DC PHOTO
Bengaluru: With Mr Vajubhai Vala taking over as the new governor of the state, political circles are abuzz with speculation on whether the National Democratic Alliance government will do what the previous Congress led UPA regime did to the BJP government when H.R. Bhardwaj was governor? Mr Vala, a former Speaker of the Gujarat assembly and an old trusted aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was on Monday sworn in as governor. Seventy-six-year old Mr Vala was administered the oath of office by Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court D.H. Waghela at a simple ceremony at Raj Bhavan.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Union Ministers D.V. Sadananda Gowda and Ananth Kumar, state ministers, leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Jagadish Shettar, BJP Vice-President B.S. Yeddyurappa and senior bureaucrats were present on the occasion. Mr Vala took the oath in Hindi.A B.Sc and LL.B graduate, Mr Vala entered public life as a Swayamsevak of the RSS during his school days. He became Mayor of Rajkot city in February 1983 and was elected an MLA for the first time in 1985 from Rajkot-2 constituency.
Mr Vala has a strong RSS background. He had served in the Narendra Modi Government in Gujarat as Finance Minister before he was elected Speaker in January last year.
He has an impressive record of having presented the state budget 18 times.
There was speculation that the BJP has drawn up plans to use Raj Bhavan to embarass the Siddaramaiah government in the near future in the same way the Congress did to B.S. Yeddyurappa when the latter was chief minister of the BJP government. One section of BJP workers feel that the Arkavathy denotification issue has come as a blessings in disguise for the BJP to step up pressure on the Siddaramaih government through Raj Bhavan.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has already expressed his displeasure over a BJP leader being thrust on the state as governor. On Sunday while speaking to reporters he said the Centre should have consulted the state government before appointing Mr Vala as governor.The Yeddyurappa government almost made an exit after former governor H.R. Bhardwaj recommended President’s rule following uproarious scenes in the Assembly when the BJP government sought a trust vote.
Mr Bhardwaj had played a key role during these happenings and was often accused by the BJP of being biased.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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