A BJP delegation led by senior leader L K Advani today met president Pratibha Patil to complain about the "unconstitutional conduct" of Karnataka governor H R Bhardwaj and sought his recall.

The delegation, also comprising 23 Karnataka MPs, handed over a memorandum to Patil in which they complained about the "tirade" against the state government by Bhardwaj since the day he took charge in June last year and said his removal was a "must to restore Constitutional order".

"We appealed to the President to recall the Karnataka governor as he has been exhibiting an extra-constitutional and confrontationist attitude. In the memorandum, we have given several instances, wherein, it is evident that right from the beginning he has been harbouring a political agenda", Advani told reporters after meeting Patil at Rashtrapati Bhawan.

The move to meet Patil comes in the wake of heightened tension between Bhardwaj and Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa after the governor sanctioned that an FIR be registered against the BJP leader in a corruption case.

Terming Bhardwaj's appointment as a step to "end democracy" in the country, the BJP said the "mindset and conduct" of the governor was motivated by extraneous and collateral purposes, less as a Constitutional functionary and more as a Congress activist.

Attacking Bhardwaj for the steps he took on the graft charges faced by Yeddyurappa, the BJP said that a governor cannot have "malafide for political reasons and substitute himself as commission of enquiry or the Lokayukta".

In the memorandum, the BJP has mentioned several public statements made by the Karnataka Governor against the chief minister and rued that "such statements are typically made in public only by Opposition leaders and not by a Constitutional head of the government".

Advani also reminded that a BJP delegation led by Arun Jaitley and leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj had appraised prime minister Manmohan Singh about the matter a few months back.

A defiant Yeddyurappa brought his battle with Bhardwaj to the national capital yesterday and met senior party leaders to chalk out a strategy to deal with the political situation arising out of Governor's sanction to prosecute him for his alleged involvement in land scams.

MP from Karnataka and senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu accused the Congress of being "instrumental" in the current situation.

"The Congress high command is the sutradhar in the episode and the Karnataka governor seems to be the patradhar (the director high command... actor governor)", Naidu said.

Asked if meeting the President was their final option, he said it was imperative to highlight the issue before Patil and added, "I want to know... if Congress is setting a precedent that governors of any state will order prosecution of a Chief minister only on the basis of some complaints?"

He warned of "chaos across the country" if the Congress and the centre continue supporting the Governor "without applying their mind".

"If governors want to rule like this, go against the mandate of the people, not do their constitutional duty then there will be chaos across the country", Naidu said.