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Behind Karnataka's regime change

At a time of political instability in States, Governors become fair game. Karnataka could easily have slipped into a constitutional crisis were it not for the deft but firm way in which Governor T.N. Chaturvedi, going by the letter as well as spirit of the Constitution, prevailed on Dharam Singh to quit as Chief Minister. For no sensible reason, Mr. Singh delayed his resignation by a day after failing to comply with the January 27 deadline set by the Governor for proving his Government's majority support in the Assembly. Any further delay on the part of Mr. Singh, or any precipitate gubernatorial action, would have raised the political temperature to an unhealthy level. For the past two weeks, the fate of the Congress-led coalition seemed to turn on the decision of one man — the national president of the Janata Dal (Secular), H.D. Deve Gowda. The existential dilemma of Mr. Gowda was there for all to see: While he proclaimed himself a secularist to the core, he was in no position to object to his son, H.D. Kumaraswamy, crossing over to the camp of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Once Mr. Gowda chose the easy way out of the moral conflict by resigning as the president of the JD(S), the game was up for Chief Minister Singh. The recognition of Mr. Kumaraswamy as the leader of the JD(S) legislature party by the Speaker, Krishna, who had won on the JD(S) ticket, was thereafter a formality. In one stroke, all questions of defection and disqualification were rendered irrelevant. Mr. Singh should have moved the confidence vote, as stipulated by the Governor, or resigned as soon as it became clear his fate was sealed.

Mr. Gowda had his reasons for what seemed a bizarre course of action. He had no sympathy for the Congress, which appeared intent on an informal tie-up with a breakaway group of the JD(S), the All India Progressive Janata Dal. He believed that a dominant faction of the Congress in Karnataka, led by former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna, was bent on humiliating him and undermining the support base of his party. But he did not want to be seen doing business with the BJP. What distinguished the JD (S) from the Janata Dal (United), another offshoot of the Janata Dal, was its consistent opposition to communal politics. Something had to give. As it turned out, Mr. Gowda, who was not averse to using the BJP as a bargaining chip, effectively sided with his son against the Congress while claiming to be true to his secular ideology. Mr. Kumaraswamy will begin his Chief Ministership on an unpredictable, tricky wicket. The secular vote base of the JD(S), weakened by the formation of the AIPJD, might be further eroded. Given the nature of the 2004 verdict, all the difficulties involved in decision-making within a coalition will resurface under the new arrangement.

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