K'taka: Advocate General quits under BJP pressure?

Bangalore: Weeks after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa was forced to appear in front of trial court in Bangalore in a 1996 disproportionate assets case against her, a controversial twist in the tale.

Special public prosecutor BV Acharya claims the BJP government in the state is trying to weaken the case against her and had tried to make him quit as prosecutor.

Acharya claims that the government sited that he cannot hold the post of Advocate General simultaneously and wanted him to quit as prosecutor. Instead he chose to resign as Advocate General.

BV Acharya said he was under pressure from the Govt to quit as the SPP in the Disproportionate Assets case against Jayalalithaa.

Acharya said, "The State government said I should quit as SPP. I said if the ground is that I can't hold two posts, then I said I prefer to quit as AG because this assignment was given by the Supreme Court. The case verdict would have weakened if I quit as the SPP. It would have taken the new SPP a lot of time to follow the case."

He's been the public prosecutor in the case since 2005 and his allegation gains strength from the fact that Acharya held both the posts between 2007 and 2008 and the government appointed him Advocate General again in 2011 fully aware that he was public prosecutor in the Jayalalithaa case .

The case against Jayalalithaa is nearing completion. The verdict could be crucial for the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister who's been seen by the BJP as a natural ally though she's not formally in any alliance.

But the disturbing question is - was the Karnataka government trying to influence the case against her.

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