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End of a sordid political chapter

All its incarnations put together, the Bharatiya Janata Party took close to five decades to come to power at the Centre; and when it did, in 1996, the government headed by A.B. Vajpayee lasted for a mere 13 days. But Karnataka’s B.S. Yeddyurappa showed that was not a record hard to beat. After manoeuvring the party through political twists and turns, and placing it at the head of a government for the first time in a southern State, Mr. Yeddyurappa could do no more th an step down as Chief Minister on his eighth day in office. The BJP’s celebrations over getting a foothold in south India proved premature, with Karnataka proving too slippery once again. In the mess created by the collapse of its agreement with the Janata Dal (Secular), the BJP should have resisted the temptation to stick its neck out for a taste of power. The JD(S) decided to back Mr. Yeddyurappa for the Chief Minister’s post owing to political compulsions, after first pushing for elections and then trying to strike a deal with the Congress. After declaring unconditional support for a BJP-led government, the JD(S) national president H.D. Deve Gowda brought up 12 new conditions. And though the conditions were not acceptable to the BJP, and negotiations with the JD(S) were far from complete, Mr. Yeddyurappa decided to press his claim to form a government and was duly sworn in. The JD(S) did relent on two of the conditions: a coordination and overseeing committee headed by H.D. Kumaraswamy, and going for Assembly elections alongside the next Lok Sabha election, whenever it comes. But the insistence on a memorandum of understanding to be signed on stamp paper was not an auspicious beginning; and the BJP should have taken the cue and not subjected itself to another round of humiliation.

The only course now is what was obvious from the beginning to all but the principal political players — a fresh Assembly election. While Governor Rameshwar Thakur did the right thing by inviting Mr. Yeddyurappa, who at the time had the numbers to back him, the government was doomed before it was formed. With every possible political combination within the present House tried out, and the Congress unwilling to do business with the JD(S), President’s Rule leading to dissolution of the Assembly was the only available option. Few chapters in independent India’s political history can match l’affaire Karnataka for brazen opportunism, changeability, greed for the loaves and fishes of office, betrayal, and awful political judgment. The next Assembly election should not be delayed for partisan purposes. The Election Commission should be sounded out on the feasibility of holding this key contest in the first quarter of 2008, alongside Assembly elections that are due in three north-eastern States.

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