With Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and his family in Singapore, maybe for health check up or for a New Year’s holiday or for both, the political apple cart is likely to be overturned before the Parliamentary elections in the next five months.
The JD(S) and the Congress Coalition Government came to power in the State, under an unholy alliance, where the majority coalition partner Congress with 80 MLAs abjectly surrendered to a minority JD(S) with 38 MLAs. The Congress gratefully offered the Chief Ministership to H.D. Kumaraswamy of JD(S) to keep BJP out of power. Since then, there has been a political cold war, surprisingly, not between the Opposition BJP with 104 MLAs, but between the coalition partners themselves.
The trouble started, as everyone knows, the day former Chief Minister Siddharamaiah was made the Chairman of State Coalition’s Coordination Committee. It must be remembered by political pundits that Siddharamaiah was always telling his voters in public meetings during the elections that he was going to be their CM after the election. Sadly, his dream of becoming the CM for a second time was shattered, when BJP got more seats than his Congress.
However, it was the Congress High Command which came to his rescue even as the BJP was preparing for a second coming of its “Operation Kamala.” The Congress High Command “unconditionally” surrendered to JD(S) with an offer it was unable to resist. However, the trouble erupted once again for Congress just about a week after the recent Cabinet expansion.
This trouble for Congress got further compounded when the appointments to posts of Heads of Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) and Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC), considered a cesspool of corruption for the last 15 years, were made.
The Congress had the gumption to name Chikkaballapur MLA Dr. K. Sudhakar for the KSPCB post without consulting the CM who had demanded that Office for his nominee.
It is learnt that if the CM had left for his holiday without signing the appointment orders for all the appointments made to Boards and Corporations, it was because of this reason.
Apparently, Siddharamaiah thought, with the newly won victories by the Congress in the three Northern States, he could now bulldoze his way through these appointments for Boards and Corporations. But then Siddharamaiah forgets H.D. Kumaraswamy is an equal match to outwit him in this political game for the throne of Karnataka. If Siddharamaiah thinks Congress MLAs will remain loyal to him in the boiling political pot of Karnataka, he would seem naive. After all, every politician has a price which is acceptable for his upward growth. Siddharamaiah must realise that ‘only me and my people’ policy will not work in party politics.
Be that as it may, according to Bengaluru grapevine, our 24×7 politician H.D. Kumaraswamy has already worked out a Plan A and a Plan B after meeting sub-rosa Amit Shah and one of the top leaders of BJP, Nitin Gadkari. This follows a perception by JD(S) Supremo H.D. Deve Gowda and CM H.D. Kumaraswamy that during and after the Parliamentary elections the Congress would definitely ensure that JD(S) is further weakened in the State.
According to reports in a section of the Press, Nitin Gadkari had preliminary discussions with Kumaraswamy last week and in that meeting Nitin Gadkari had put forward two proposals for consideration.
The first proposal: If Kumaraswamy comes out of the coalition with the Congress immediately he would be made a Minister in the Central Cabinet while simultaneously making his brother H.D. Revanna as Deputy Chief Minister under a BJP Government.
Of course, there is sufficient time to make this plan work and if it works, a big IF indeed, the very shape of the Parliamentary elections in Karnataka will change to the disadvantage of the Congress. Therefore, it is likely that the Congress High Command might ask Siddharamaiah to keep his ambitions aside till after the Parliamentary elections and surrender to Kumaraswamy.
The second proposal: After the Parliamentary election Kumaraswamy would be the CM and BJP would play asimilar role now being played by the Congress, except that BJP would have two Deputy CMs.
It is learnt, Nitin Gadkari in his wisdom had suggested that the first proposal was the best as the alliance between BJP and JD(S) in Karnataka could last for a longer time.
Now let us keep our fingers crossed and see if the New Year-2019 will also bring a new Government in Karnataka under a new Coalition of JD(S) and BJP. After all, they are not strange bedfellows anymore. They had formed a Coalition Government earlier from Feb. 3, 2006 to Nov.2, 2007.
Ramesh Jarkiholi factor
According to our Delhi source, Jarkiholi has already held talks with BJP National President Amit Shah. Half a dozen more Congress MLAs, apart from himself, also reportedly are in touch with Jarkiholi and may follow suit. As a result, there is an intensified speculation in Delhi that sooner, rather than later, there will be a change in the Coalition Government in the State.
Happy New Year to My Readers
e-mail: kbg@starofmysore.com
This post was published on December 31, 2018 6:11 pm