Governor gives CM a jolt, DL was right!

21 Dec, 2012 13:18 IST|Sakshi
Governor gives CM a jolt, DL was right!

  There's a new twist to the Dharmana case. The Andhra Pradesh government received a jolt on the Dharmana prosecution issue on Friday. Governor ESL Narasimhan has rejected Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy's proposal to deny prosecution of Dharmana by the CBI.

After examining the proposal, the governor has indicated that the government seek a legal opinion on the issue. It is learnt that the governor gave his opinion on the issue two days ago! However, the news was made public only today.
It is a known fact that the CBI had sought the prosecution of Dharmana Prasada Rao in Vanpic case. However with the exception of a few, majority of the Council of ministers had unanimously  approved CM's decision to reject CBI plea.
It may be recalled that Health Minister DL Ravindra Reddy had raised a strong objection to CM protecting Dharmana Prasada Rao from the CBI. In fact, when the Cabinet members gave their nod to CM's proposal, DL had questioned the members with: "What if governor vetoes your approval? It would put us in bad light. I don't want to stand as a culprit in the court, thus am outrightly rejecting this!," he had said.
And true to his words, DL's worst fears came true with governor rejecting the proposal! Now, what credibility does CM hold?
Imagine governor expressing doubts over a head of state's judgement! It definitely makes the public wonder if the CM lacked the vision to foresee this. Didn't he see it coming? The Governor's take on the issue only goes to show that CM is incapable of taking a call on key issues such as this! It also shows that Kiran Reddy had been protecting Dharmana all along and leads us to wonder why should CM do it?
Sources say that the very fact that CM took the approval of his Cabinet members was to play it safe. Now, Kiran can conveniently say, "Hey it was not my decision alone, but a majority of Cabinet approved it!"
Which is exactly what DL had asked... that what was the need for CM to involve his entire cabinet in the issue when he had the power to decide on his own?
DL had said, although CM had a right to take a decision on Dharmana prosecution, it was not right on his part to compel the entire Cabinet to back his decision!
An adamant DL who had expected the governor's move had said, "I will wait for the Governor's decision on the CBI's plea to prosecute Dharmana. If the Governor rejects it, anyone can challenge it in court," DL said.
DL had also questioned the government's partiality towards Dharmana while it had conveniently ignored Mopidevi, who's also a co-accused in the case.
CM had retorted with: "Dharmana's case is different from that of (former minister) Mopidevi Venkata Ramana. Mopidevi was first arrested by CBI (in the Vanpic land scandal) without the agency seeking permission from the state government. He then resigned from the Cabinet. In Dharmana's case, the CBI sought permission."
The CM also noted that CBI itself told the court that cases related to Dharmana and Mopidevi were different.
The rift between Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and health minister DL Ravindra Reddy is widening by the day. Now, it would be interesting to watch, who wins the case. Will it be the CM or DL?
-Reshmi@Sakshipost

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