The state of
Karnataka is ruled by Congress for decades, except that of Janata
Party coming into power for a short while in late 80’s. The
lukewarmness, lethargy and the deteriorating inspiring leadership in
the party, slowly pave way for new waves in the state politics.
If we focus on our
neighbouring state, Tamil Nadu, there is a power shift every other
election. The tug of war between Jayalalitha and Karunanidhi, gives
an option to people to be democratic in their choice, giving chance
to each, alternatively.
Karnataka is one
such rare state, where people remained committed to one political
party, until they were hurt. It was in 2007, coalition of the
political parties of two opposing ideologies came together to form
the government. BJP and JD(S) on a bilateral agreement of power
sharing formed the government in the state with Mr H.D. Kumaraswamy
swearing in as the 18th chief minister of the state with
B.S. Yediyurappa as his deputy. But the brutal betrayal of JD(s) in
handing the power over to BJP in the second phase of the ruling was
indeed the turning point in the state politics.
Having betrayed by
JD(s) and people being already fed up with Congress, BJP received
popular sympathy of the people and came to power with majority.
The past four years of BJP ruling
in the state has seen a series of political dramas, which included 3
CM's with B.S. Yediyurappa holding the centre stage. Being the first
BJP chief minister in the south, people did have high hopes on Mr
Yeddy. The story of past four years will tell us the saga of
unfulfilled promises.
The rise of fundamentalist groups
in the state has no doubt, created a kind of terror and anxiety in
the minds of common people. Woman holds the place of God in our
culture and we have ample examples in the past four years in the
state where women and girls are being victimized. The Mangalore home
stay attack and other earlier attacks are worst forms of human rights
violation, state has ever seen and hardly anything is being done
about the accused.
The future of the state, no
doubt will be badly hit by the large scale corruptions taken place
during the last few years. It's a well known fact that the state is
being looted, especially of its natural resources.
As expected, minorities were
attacked in various parts of the state. The cry of Christians as
their churches were attacked had no listeners. Rising scams on
mining, land scams which need to be addressed are pushed under the
carpet. Sadly enough, now the government is eyeing on the land of
Sumanahalli leprosy rehabilitation centre - a place of the neglected,
in the name of developmental purpose. Why doesn't the government make
any proactive move to track down the illegal lands grabbed by the
politicians? It's then I am sure, government won’t have any dearth
for land.
Yediyurappa’s arrest after the
forced resignation, was indeed the most shameful moment that the
state politics has ever faced. With this, series of corruption
charges came to light. The presence of governor, Mr H. Bharadwaj, a
man of the constitutions and Mr Santhosh Hegde, have shown that the
people of the state demand for accountability from their elected
members and it's not a free license. Though Lokayuktha was
systematically suppressed and murdered in the state and with the
emergence of Sadanandha Gowda as the chief minister and CBI
continuing their investigations on corruption charges, Yeddy saw to
it that Mr Gowda was brought down amidst the high political drama and
Mr Jagadish Shettar sworn in as the third BJP chief minister in the
state in a span of 4 years. As Mr Yediyurappa's demands were
increasing, the high command had indeed reached a stage to say, '
Enough is Enough' Upset Yeddy, when his demands were not met,
finally decided to end his ties with the state BJP.
Drama continues, though BJP is
still ruling the state, government is in constant flux as there are
Yeddy loyalists within the government. Constant verbal war between Mr
Yediyurappa and Eshwarappa adds fuel to the fire. A few of his
loyalists have already joined him as he has launched the new
political party- Karnataka Janata Paksha(KJP)
Having been associated with the
fundamentalist ideology throughout his political career, Yeddy is now
trying to wear a secularist mask. His new party-KJP is trying to show
that it's the voice of all the sections of the society. This indeed
raises the authenticity of the ideals which are proposed and what
might be the reality. Though initially it was said that KJP will
contest for 140 seats,in the coming elections which was later
corrected as all the 224 seats. It's quite evident that KJP of
Yediyurappa is in direct war with BJP.
Let's not forget, it's the caste
politics that rules Karnataka. If we go back to the to the history of
politics in Karnataka to the time when Mr Virendra Patil was the CM
belonging to congress party. He had the backing of the major group
-Lingayats in the state. When he was replaced, the popular opinion
turned against Congress and it was then Mr Yediyurappa emerged as
their leader or in other words, Lingayats slowly started backing BJP.
We are back to square one and it is BJP this time, which might face
peoples wrath. BJP without Yeddy is like a toothless lion.
Does this mean that Yeddy's
supporters (lingayat community) will still back him in the newly
formed KJP? With all his tactics to get people's sympathy, by
focusing on BJP's ungratefulness to him, the analysis say that this
time around, the popular opinion might turn against Yeddy. The
situation is tricky for Yediyurappa as he's caught in severe
corruption charges.
Reading the signs of the time,
the other parties are already preparing for the elections. No doubt
KJP will be a crucial factor in dividing the votes and of which BJP
might be a worst victim. Congress has already brought back Mr S.M.
Krishna to the state Congress and JD(s) is having its own style of
preparations. Thus it will be interesting to see how the equations
work out.
Let's wait and watch the fun as
KJP battles with other parties to make up numbers in the state.
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