FPJ Edit: Shot in the arm for BJP

FPJ Edit: Shot in the arm for BJP

EditorialUpdated: Tuesday, December 10, 2019, 10:25 PM IST
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Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa |

As in life, so in politics. Nothing is static. The setback in Maharashtra, when power seemed in its grasp, but slipped out thanks to the backstabbing of alliance partner Shiv Sena, left  the BJP nursing its wounds, having misjudged a long-term partner. However, the outcome of Assembly by-polls in Karnataka would soon come as a morale-booster of sorts. The results of the record 15 by-elections on Monday has firmed up the grip of the BJP Government led by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa for the remaining three-and-a-half-years of the life of the State Assembly. Eighteen months ago, the BJP had emerged the largest group in the 224-member House with 104 members but, following a post-poll alliance between the Congress and the JD(S), it was forced to sit in the Opposition. The uneasy alliance was racked daily by sharp differences, with the former chief minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah constantly troubling Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy from within the ruling coalition and Yediyurappa waiting in the wings to lure away disgruntled MLAs to help him return to power. At last, fifteen Congress and JD (U) MLAs deserted their parties on the promise of being made ministers. They were promptly disqualified by the Speaker under the anti-defection law. However, on appeal, the Supreme Court upheld their disqualification but it nullified the Speaker’s order which had barred them from contesting the election for six years. Consequently, in the ensuing by-elections the BJP fielded 13 defectors. Eleven romped home comfortably on Monday. So much then for the alleged public antipathy against  the Aya Ram, Gaya Ram syndrome. People do not care. Probably, the factor that did help the BJP was the popular revulsion against the daily tussle between the JD(S) and the Congress while in government and sympathy for the 76-year-old Yediyurappa for having been denied chief ministership by a post-poll opportunistic alliance. Yediyurappa will now have to keep his promise and induct the winners in his government, a trade-off which will result in an unwieldy Cabinet with as many as 11 Lingayatas and seven Vokkaligas in the ministry. Besides, Yediyurappa will have two Deputy CMs. Under the circumstances, it will be natural for the old and loyal BJP MLAs to feel unhappy. But given that Yediyurappa, alone among the top leaders of the party, commands state-wide popularity, there is unlikely to be any challenge to his position. Indeed, with the emphatic win, the national leadership of the BJP, unenthusiastic about Yediurappa’s action in inducing defections, will now have to accept his authority in the party’s Karnataka unit.

Hitherto no attempt was spared by the central leadership to put down Yediyurappa. So much so the State BJP chief Nalin Kumar Kateel was appointed without  consultation with him. The newly-inducted national organisational affairs general secretary of the BJP, B L Santosh, who had all along sought to cut Yediyurappa to size will now have to reconcile himself to the latter’s writ running over the State unit. The BJP does not have any other leader who enjoys the same hold on the people’s pulse as the Lingayat favourite Yediurappa. Lingayats constitute the single largest voting bloc in the State followed by Vokkaligas, the caste the former prime minister and JD (S) Chief H D Deve Gowda belongs to. Meanwhile, following the humiliating defeat even in seats which were considered its bastions - remember that the by-elections were held in seats held by non-BJP parties-the former Chief Minister and leader of the Congress Legislature Party Siddaramaiah and the State Congress Chief Dinesh Gundu Rao submitted resignations to the party chief Sonia Gandhi. The Congress managed to win only 2 of the 15 seats, including one where Muslims constitute a sizable  chunk of the  voters. Given that the central leadership continued in place even after series of electoral shocks nationally and regionally, both Siddaramaiah and Gundu Rao need not worry about their resignations being accepted. Their fortunes now hinge on the performance of the BJP government in the state which is facing a host of problems, including water shortage in Bengaluru, rural distress, unresolved water dispute with Maharashtra and tough resistance from Goa against the proposed dam on the river Mhadei. Yediyurappa, fortified by the huge win in the by-elections, has his plate full. At 76, he has probably the last opportunity to prove himself as a competent administrator, and not just as a deft political manager.

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