Government had only asked Acharya to quit either as AG or as SPP, Gowda told PTI when asked about the former`s remarks that he resigned as AG due to "pressure" from government to quit as SPP in the disproportionate assets case against Jayalalithaa.
"The Government did not pressurise Acharya to resign as SPP. There is a PIL in court challenging Acharya holding two posts-- Advocate General as well as SPP--.The Government did not want to face any embarrassment on the issue. So I asked him to chose to continue in one of the posts", Gowda said.
Gowda said Acharya told him that he has been appointed as SPP for the case against Jayalalithaa by the High Court and he has been handling it for more than five years now. "Acharya told me that since he has already worked earlier as Advocate General of the state, he prefers to continue as SPP and I agreed to it".
78-year-old Acharya, who quit as AG yesterday, had said there was consistently a demand that he should not hold both the posts and government wanted him to resign as SPP but he opted to quit as Advocate General. He has, however, reportedly told a section of the press that the state government was apparently under pressure from the BJP central leadership that he should quit as SPP in the case against Jayalalithaa.
The move was seen as an attempt by BJP to woo Jayalalithaa into the NDA led by it. The case filed against Acharya challenging his holding dual posts is coming up for hearing on February 14 before a Lokayukta court.