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Karnataka crisis : BJP pulls out of coalition, seeks dismis¬sal of Kumaraswamy Govt.

	October 08, 2007

The uneasy coalition between the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) in Karnataka ended on Sunday, Oct. 7 with the BJP formally withdrawing support to the H.D. Kumaraswamy government. After a march in Bangalore, party MLAs led by Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, submitted a letter to Governor Rameshwar Thakur, demanding dismissal of the Kumaras¬wamy government on the ground that it has been reduced to a minority in the state Assembly. Short of dismissal, they urged the Governor to ask Kumaraswamy to seek a vote of confidence within three days.







In a related development Chief Minister Kumaraswamy appealed to the Governor to give him an opportunity to prove his majority on the floor of the House in the backdrop of the BJP withdrawing support to his government.





BJP Parliamentary Board decides on withdrawal of support



The decision to pull out of the coalition with the Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka was taken by the BJP parliamentary board at its meeting in New Delhi on Saturday, Oct. 6, a day after JD(S) president H.D. Deve Gowda made it clear that his party was not prepared to transfer power to the BJP in the state. Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha told mediapersons in New Delhi that the Parliamentary Board decided to withdraw support to the Kumaraswamy government as the meeting between BJP president Rajnath Singh and Deve Gowda did not yield positive results.



Rajnath Singh told the Parliamentary Board that there was no positive result as the JD(S) appeared to be unwilling to allow the BJP candidate to head the Government for the remaining 20 months of its tenure as had been agreed upon.



The JD(S) and the BJP had formed a coalition government in January last year with the agreement that while Kumaraswamy of the JDS will head the government for the first 20 months, a BJP nominee will head the Government during the last 20 months of the State Assembly’s tenure. The JDS had formed the coalition with the BJP after walking out of the Congress-led Dharam Singh Government.



Senior BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu described the JD(S) refusal to “transfer power” despite a “transparent and clear agreement” as “the worst betrayal by any political party.” He said: “The people will teach them [JD(S) leaders] a fitting lesson.”



It is learnt that Singh briefed the board on Gowda’s litany of complaints against State BJP leaders. Singh is believed to have told him that he had never brought these complaints to him earlier. It was also pointed out that had the coalition arrange¬ment not been working to the JD(S)’ satisfaction, it would have ended the relationship earlier instead of waiting till the time for transfer of power.



Yashwant Sinha, leader in charge of BJP affairs in Karnata¬ka, told reporters that the party would like fresh elections held so that the people could decide who deserved the mandate.



Sinha said the issue was “not transfer of power” or “loss of an opportunity for the BJP to have its first Chief Minister in a southern State.” The issue was “betrayal” by the JD(S) headed by a former Prime Minister. It entered into a “transparent” agree¬ment with the BJP, widely publicised through a joint press con¬ference addressed by Kumaraswamy and Yediyurappa. There was no ambiguity in that agreement.



The BJP was not interested in the politics of manoeuvring numbers. The moral of this story was the BJP had to learn to be more careful in the future. To betray was wrong, to be betrayed was not, Sinha said.





Congress keeping its options open



While both the JD(S) and the BJP are rooting for a mid-term poll in Karnataka, the Congress appears to be keeping its options open and playing the waiting game. The BJP wants elections to be held immediately as it believes that it can take advantage of the “betrayal” factor in fresh elections. The JD(S) wants the elec¬tions to be held under its caretaker government. So far as the Congress is concerned, it would prefer the elections to be held under President’s Rule, if a fresh poll is inevitable.



Congress general secretary in charge of Karnataka, Prithvi Raj Chavan said in New Delhi on Oct. 6 that the party would formalise its stand after the BJP formally pulls out of the Kumaraswamy Government. Reports say that Congress president Sonia Gandhi has been conferring with other party leaders and getting their feedback on the unfolding scenario in Karnataka.





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Sangh Parivar tried to encourage communalism : JD(S) charge



The Janata Dal (Secular) political affairs committee, in a resolution adopted at its meeting in New Delhi on Oct. 6, has accused Sangh Parivar outfits of trying to turn Karnataka into a ‘Hindutva laboratory’ on the lines of Gujarat.



Keeping in mind the “overwhelming sentiments of the State legislators,” the committee was “constrained to recommend not to transfer power to the BJP, to maintain peace and communal harmony in the State of Karnataka.”



The text of the JD (S) resolution said, even as the state government made efforts to bring about unprecedented and revolu¬tionary changes in the socio-economic fabric of Karnataka includ¬ing safeguarding the State’s mineral resources, the BJP partners began a vicious campaign against the Janata Dal (Secular), par¬ticularly targeting the Chief Minister and his family. Even BJP’s MLCs and MLAs started indulging in a vituperative smear campaign, unparalleled in the history of coalition governments anywhere in the world.



Yet, the Chief Minister continued to bear the cross silent¬ly. The Chief Minister crushed with an iron hand attempts by the BJP’s sister concerns in the Sangh Parivar to whip up communal frenzy in the state by raking up issues like Dattapeetha. Though the coalition was a State-level arrangement, the JD (S) national president himself personally wrote to the BJP top brass drawing their attention to the attempts by the BJP and Sangh Parivar elements to vitiate the communal atmosphere in the State. Howev¬er, the senior BJP leaders did not even show the basic courtesy of responding to the communication.



Defying all norms of coalition dharma, a senior BJP leader and Minister in the state government filed a First Information Report against the Chief Minister charging him with murder con¬spiracy late last month, which was unheard of in the parliamenta¬ry system of democracy anywhere in the world.



In view of the above circumstances including attempts by the BJP to defame and discredit the Chief Minister, his family, the party’s national president, and other senior leaders as also attempts by Sangh Parivar outfits to turn Karnataka into a Hin¬dutva laboratory on the lines of Gujarat, the Political Affairs Committee of the party, keeping in mind the overwhelming senti¬ments of the state legislators and party workers and functionar¬ies right from the grass root level, is constrained to recommend to the state party not to transfer power to the BJP to maintain peace and communal harmony in the state of Karnataka.



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Earlier in the week, Chief Minister Kumaraswamy on Oct. 4 decided to face a floor test to prove his majority in the legis¬lature session beginning on Oct. 18. All BJP Ministers submitted their resignations to the Chief Minister on Oct. 2 following his failure to step down as Chief Minister as per the power-sharing deal between the two parties.