After five years of controversial stint as Governor of Karnataka, HR Bhardwaj retired on Saturday. Bhardwaj a former Union law Minister was always loyal to Congress and Gandhis. He was very vocal in accepting that he was a loyal soldier of Gandhi family.
Throughout his five years in office he governed the State as a politician courting controversies day in and out. Bhardwaj, a darling of the media, was most politically active Governor the State has ever seen.After Modi swept into power, it was anticipated he would quit but Bhardwaj who gave a clean chit to late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in famous Bofors case refused to quit and said he would complete his term as he was holding a Constitutional post.
During his tenure, Bhardwaj was a nightmare to the first BJP Government in South led by BS Yeddyurappa. He had running feud with the ruling BJP and always ahead in deliberating advices through media. During BJP’s five-year rule Bhardwaj played his cards in perfect tune with the UPA Government to find fault to punish them. The three BJP Chief Ministers, Yeddyurappa, DV Sadananda Gowda and Jagadish Shettar always feared this man who has given his nod to prosecute BS Yeddyurappa in 2011 on corruption charges.
He had recommended implementation of President’s Rule twice in Karnataka during the BJP rule. He was politically active and known for giving sermons at interval to the media. Appointments of Vice Chancellors during his term were very controversial and were criticised by many and especially he had a verbal duel with Jnanpeetha awardee and well-known writer UR Ananthmurthy.
He courted a serious controversy during his first year in office by refusing to give his nod to confer Honorary doctorate by Bangalore university to well known historian and critique in Kannada Dr Chidananda Murthy citing latter’s alleged endorsement of attacks on places of worships. later it became an issue across the State and had to give his nod.
Even though Bhardwaj’s equation with the current Congress Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was good, the former is learnt to have expressed his disapproval over the functioning of some of the senior Ministers. Recently despite pressure from the BJP to reject the list of five names finalised by Siddaramaiah for the legislative Council under the “nominations” category on the ground that they all happen to be active politicians, the Governor finally gave the nod to the list.
Bhardwaj’s stint will be remembered for his strained relations with the previous BJP Governments in the State.