‘Dance bar ban wasn’t urgent, power theft was’

The rainiest day of the season has been replaced by a cloudy but quiet day as Krishna mulled the muddy monsoon rollers breaking in the Arabian Sea outside the panaromic glass windows of his Raj Bhavan study.

‘‘I cannot be pressured by the Shettys or the non-Shettys,’’ Krishna said with asperity.

He was referring to pressure from Patil over the 11 days the dance-bar ordinance lay at Raj Bhavan and to contrasting allegations that Krishna had been pressured by the Shetty community from his native Karnataka—most populous of dance-bar owners in Mumbai—not to pass the ban ordinance.

Before Maharashtra’s on-the-go Governor departs for Europe, he sat down with The Indian Express and explained, in his first interview on the subject, why he returned the ordinance that hopes to shut down the state’s 1,400 dance bars.

• You invoked constitutional provisions in returning the ordinance. Mr Patil says you should have simply asked him and clarified matters.

I am a student of constitutional law, and there is nothing here for me to seek a clarification. I have simply returned the bill, which in my wisdom I find there is nothing urgent to sign—(especially) when I have myself summoned both houses of legislature on July 11. So, I said I would rather suggest it be debated and passed in the form of a bill. It’s as simple as that. If they (the government) were so particular, they could have sent their requests to convene the legislature. I have just taken a stand that unless it’s urgent, there’s no need to sign this. The same day, I signed the electricity theft bill. I know Maharashtra is reeling from a power crisis. That’s urgent. I need no clarification.

• But you seem to disagree with the basic premise of the move to ban dance bars.

Not at all.

• Many allege that Shettys from your state, Karnataka, dominate the dance-bar business, and so you are soft on them.

These insinuations and innuendos have been going on since I took over. First, they said I would be soft on the boundary dispute, then the Krishna waters dispute. Neither blinded me into taking a position that is detrimental to Maharashtra. I have taken my decisions as an Indian.

• What is your personal take on women dancing for a living?

I don’t know. There are a number of implications on economic activities (pauses)…If I have thoughts, it is best to keep them to myself. I cannot air them. The cumulative wisdom of the legislature will guide me.

• Did you feel pressured by the Deputy Chief Minister?

Absolutely not. If someone things I can be pressured by Shettys or non-Shettys, then they have not understood my public life. In almost four decades, I have been through various facets of politics.