The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Dissolve Assembly, say Karnad, Ananthamurthy and others

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Wednesday, Oct 31, 2007
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Dissolve Assembly, say Karnad, Ananthamurthy and others

Special Correspondent

Give BJP-JD(S) a second chance, pleads Chidanandamurthy

— Photo:V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Speaking out: Jnanpith award winners U.R. Ananthamurthy (right) and Girish Karnad (left) with other writers after meeting Governor Rameshwar Thakur at Raj Bhavan on Tuesday.

Bangalore: Eminent writers and thinkers of Karnataka, including two Jnanpith award winners, have described the re-alignment of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (Secular) as a “shameless and immoral coalition” and appealed to the Governor to dissolve the Assembly.

In a counter move to this, another set of writers have asked the Governor to give the alliance a chance to form the Government.

Memorandum

U.R. Ananthamurthy, Girish Karnad, Devanoor Mahadeva, Indudhara Honnapura, K. Marulasiddappa and others have submitted a memorandum seeking Assembly dissolution. But writers including Chidanadamurthy, Ham.Pa. Nagarajiah and Sumatindra Nadig have asked the Governor to give the BJP-JD(S) a second chance. A delegation from the film fraternity, headed by actor and BJP MLC Srinath, also met the Governor on Tuesday and voiced their support to the alliance.

‘No moral sanction’

Speaking to The Hindu Prof. Ananthamurthy said: “The alliance may have numbers, but they do not have a moral sanction to form the Government. The Governor should reject it.” Mr. Karnad added: “There has perhaps never been such a shameless display of greed in Karnataka.”

Dr. Marulasiddappa said that the coalition was only in the interest of MLAs and political parties, without any regard for the aspirations of the people of Karnataka. The two parties had publicly traded charges and called each other names only a few days ago, he pointed out. “Politics in Karnataka has never hit such a low. This is shameful,” he said.

“This is leading people to lose faith in the entire democratic system,” Mr. Mahadeva told The Hindu from Chamalapura, where he is participating in an agitation against the proposed thermal power plant.

Letter

The writers demanding Assembly dissolution have stated in their letter to the Governor: “We appeal to you to restore power to the people of Karnataka so that they may judge the representatives and express their opinion, free and fair, of those who seek to perpetuate themselves in power for the rest of the term.”

‘Give them a chance’

Speaking to The Hindu on what had promoted their counter petition, Dr. Nagarajiah said that the people of Karnataka were in “no position to bear the burden of another election”.

The coalition partners had “realised their mistake and were repentant”.

Under these circumstances, where they have the adequate numbers to form the Government, the two parties should be given a chance as per the law, he said.

“We should forget the past and not indulge in post-mortem in the interest of the people,” said Dr. Nagarajiah.

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