The Hindu : Hard choice before Rajashekaramurthy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 22, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Mysore

Hard choice before Rajashekaramurthy

By R. Krishna Kumar

MYSORE, FEB. 21. Is M. Rajashekaramurthy's joining the Janata Dal (Secular) imminent? There has been speculation for months that this Rajya Sabha member will leave the Bharatiya Janata Party and join the Janata Dal (S). But on Friday, the Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, V. Srinivas Prasad, hinted that this could be expected soon.

At a press conference to announce the merger of the Samata Party with the Janata Dal (S) in the State, Mr. Prasad said he would meet the media in the company of Mr. Murthy. "We (Mr. Murthy and he) will meet you together in due course,'' he said.

Political observers feel that the statement is significant as Mr. Murthy is said to be leaning towards the Janata Dal (S). He mediated the talks between the former Prime Minister, H.D. Deve Gowda, and S.R. Bommai, President of the All-India Progressive Janata Dal, as he suspected that the Congress was trying to scuttle the merger of the Dal factions.

The Janata Dal (S) fielded B. Chidananda, son-in-law of Mr. Murthy, as its candidate in the recent elections to the Legislative Council from the Mysore-Chamarajanagar local bodies constituency.

Mr. Murthy has not denied or confirmed the speculation. A former Minister and senior Lingayat leader, he left the Congress and joined the BJP in 1999 after being denied the post of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President. But the senior politician did not get his due in the BJP. The Janata Dal (S) is keen to secure the support of Mr. Murthy given his standing in the region. Senior party leaders have expressed their eagerness to welcome Mr. Murthy into the party and thereby secure the backing of the Lingayats who have a good presence in the region.

Sources close to Mr. Murthy said he was not comfortable in the BJP which nominated him to the Rajya Sabha soon after he joined it. Neither would he like to return to the Congress which deprived him of a chance to become Chief Minister.

A section of the Janata Dal (S) activists have tried to project Mr. Murthy as the party's "dark horse'' in the Mysore Lok Sabha Constituency to take on the Congress and the BJP.

But will his ambitions be met in a party that has a marginal presence nationally? He may at best become an MP, a post which he already holds. Hence there is the conjecture that Mr. Murthy is keen to play a major role in State politics.

Assuming that he wins in the Assembly elections and the Janata Dal (S) forms the next Government, will senior party leaders such as Siddaramaiah allow a newcomer to upstage them? Continuing in the BJP or joining the Janata Dal (S), Mr. Murthy has a difficult choice to make.

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