H. R. Bhardwaj

Hansraj Bhardwaj
Governor of Karnataka
In office 25 June 2009 – incumbent
Preceded by	Rameshwar Thakur
Personal details
Born	(1937-05-17) 17 May 1937
Political party	Indian National Congress

Hansraj Bhardwaj (Kannada: ಹನ್ಸ್ರಾಜ್ ಭಾರದ್ವಾಜ್; born May 17, 1937) is an Indian politician, currently serving as the Governor of Karnataka. He is a member of the Indian National Congress. He holds the record of having the second longest tenure in Law Ministry since independence, after Ashoke Kumar Sen. He was the minister of state for nine years and a cabinet minister for law and justice for five years.

Bhardwaj was first elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 1982. He served as Minister of State in the Ministry of Law and Justice from December 31, 1984 to November 1989 and was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 1988. He was then Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Planning and Programme Implementation from June 21, 1991 to July 2, 1992 and Minister of State in the Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs from July 3, 1992 to May 1996. He was again re-elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 1994 and April 2000, and from May 22, 2004 to May 28, 2009 he served as Union Cabinet Minister of Law and Justice.

Having previously represented Madhya Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha, Bhardwaj was instead elected to the Rajy a Sabha from Haryana on March 20, 2006, without opposition.

Bhardwaj introduced the concept of rural courts (gram nyayalayas) during the UPA-I government. A media shy minister, the old Gandhi family loyalist handled the most sensitive and controversial cases in the Manmohan Singh cabinet between 2004 and 2009. From Bofors to office of profit and the failed attempt to remove Navin Chawla as election commissioner, were all deftly handled by the Congress veteran to the satisfaction of the Prime Minister and party leadership.

Controversies

Bofors scandal

In March 2009, H R Bharadwaj was criticized for taking the initiative to de-freeze two bank accounts of Ottavio Quattrocchi, an accused in the Bofors Scam case, who is seen as a close friend of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. In particular, it appears he did not consult the investigating agency CBI which had gotten the accounts frozen.

As Governor of Krnataka

In July 2010, his comments on the powerful Bellary brothers, ministers in the B.S. Yeddyurappa government, particularly demanding their sacking for their alleged involvement in illegal mining generated a national debate. This was preceded by Bhardwaj rejecting the resignation of Lokayukta, Justice Hegde, leading to appreciation of his role as governor.

Bharadwaj also received lots of flak from public and media for his unceremonious, scathing personal attack on Mysore university vice-chancellor V G Talawar when the latter was initiating action against former vice-chancellor J Shashidhar Prasad. Prasad is accused of committing irregularities in the recruitment of around 200 professors and readers during his tenure between 2003 and 2007.

On January 21 2011, Governor Bhardwaj sanctioned the prosecution of Chief Minister of Karnataka (Yeddyurappa)under Prevention of Corruption Act, following several allegations of his involvement in land scams.

On February 7 2011, Bharadwaj withheld the approval of honorary doctorate by the Bangalore University to noted historian and Kannada writer M. Chidananda Murthy. Chidananda Murthy had backed justice BK Somasekhara Commission’s report on church attacks in Karnataka in 2008. Bharadwaj was criticised by the entire literary community of Kannada including Jnanpith awardee Prof U. R. Ananthamurthy. Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelana 2011, held in Bangalore, adopted a resolution to “condemn” the Governor's decision. Taking note of this, Bharadwaj agreed to give his approval.