JETHMALANI THROWS HAT IN THE RING

Veteran lawyer and MP Ram Jethmalani (94) on Thursday made a surprise appearance in the Supreme Court in his "personal capacity" to challenge Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala’s swearing in of BJP leader B S Yeddyurappa despite his party being eight MLAs short of a majority in the Assembly. He had otherwise taken retirement from seven decades of law practice last September.

He mentioned his petition before the Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, but was advised to go to the appropriate bench headed by Justice A K Sikri, which had heard the Congress petition overnight and will have another hearing on Friday at 10.30 AM.

What is his interest? He told a private TV channel that he is in the court to get rid of Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister. "I have one objective left, to get rid of Modi. I have not lost faith in the Supreme Court."

But where does Modi figure in this case? He said he had no doubt about the Governor's connivance with Modi in what he told the

court was "gross abuse of constitutional power."

Jethmalani, who fell out with the BJP and now represents Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in the Rajya Sabha, said: "I don't want to get into the past but my objective is to get rid of him (Modi)."

Is the Governor encouraging horse trading to let Yeddyurappa muster a majority that the BJP does not enjoy? Jethmalani shot back: "This is not horse racing, this is donkey racing. Open invitation to corruption... They can only get votes by destroying democracy."

In a midnight hearing, which lasted until early morning of Thursday, the 3-judge Bench headed by Justice Sikri refused to stall the swearingin of Yeddyurappa, who took oath as the CM at 9 AM in Bengaluru, but summoned on Friday his letters to the Governor that prompted latter to invite him to take oath, saying his swearing-in will be subject to the disposal of the petition before it.