The Hindu : Politicians can survive, but not their followers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 03, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Mysore

Politicians can survive, but not their followers

By Our Staff Correspondent

MYSORE, APRIL 2. Elections this time have ushered in a high degree of uncertainty more for the followers than the political leaders. For, the leaders can survive, but not the followers. Many workers are at a loss to understand whether to follow the leader who is busy "party-hopping'' or to remain with the flock committed to the party ideology.

For instance, the former Union Minister, V. Srinivas Prasad, who jumped from the Janata Dal (United) to the Samata Party and to the Janata Dal (Secular), recently announced that he would take a break from the "politics of elections'' and introspect before taking a further decision. This has left his followers in the lurch.

When Mr. Prasad decided to merge the Samata Party with the Janata Dal(S) in the State, his supporters followed suit. Unfortunately, for them, it is still not clear who will be the party's official candidate for the Chamarajanagar and Mysore parliamentary constituencies.

Hence, they are pressuring Mr. Prasad to contest in the election. Many of them staged a dharna in front of Mr. Prasad's residence recently urging him to contest in the election. So is it with the followers of A.S. Guruswamy of the Congress, who was elected to the Assembly from the Chamundeshwari constituency in the last election.

Mr. Guruswamy's followers are perturbed by the party's decision of nominating Revannasiddaiah, former Bangalore Police Commissioner, for the Chamundeshwari seat. They staged a demonstration recently seeking the party nomination for Mr. Guruswamy. Not content with the dharna, the followers of Mr. Guruswamy locked up the Congress office on Sayyaji Rao Road.

The position is no different in the Mysore District Congress, which has two factions. The followers of the two factions recently threatened to stage a dharna in Bangalore if their leaders were not accommodated or were not given the party nomination for the Krishnaraja and Narasimharaja constituencies.

In the district, the followers of the former Hunsur MLA, Papanna, are in a dilemma. Mr. Pappanna was elected as a BJP candidate in 1999. When he joined the Congress, his supporters followed suit. But the Congress is yet to decide on its candidate for the Hunsur seat. Unable to bear the anxiety, Mr. Pappanna held a meeting recently with his followers to decide on the action to be taken if he was denied the party nomination.

It is said that in the meeting, Mr. Papanna's supporters were caustic in berating their leader for his unilateral decisions that brought them to such a plight.

A similar situation is faced by the followers of Bharatishankar, who was a member of the dissolved Assembly.

He was elected as a BJP candidate from T. Narsipur in the last election, and is now with the Congress.

At a meeting of the Janata Dal (Secular) held here on Thursday, though the State unit President, Siddaramaiah, was to hold discussions with the aspirants, their supporters outnumbered them, who shouted slogans in support of their leaders forcing the meeting to be adjourned.

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