Ruckus over credit they do not deserve

Mathihalli Madan Mohan

Senior Journalist and Columnist

Hubli

HUBLI,  Oct 01, 2011

           

                                                             

        The BJP in Karnataka finds itself in an unusual fix. It is not in a position to savour the victory in the just concluded the by-elections to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from Koppal in Northern Karnataka.

            It is not that it is an unexpected victory. It was on the cards, when the ruling BJP led by Mr. Yedyurrappa the then Chief Minister enticed  Mr. Karadi Sanganna, a JDS legislator to join the BJP,  as a part of the Operation Kamala, an infamous game plan devised by Yeddyurappa to achieve objective without attracting the provisions of the anti defection law.

            But the only fly in the ointment has been that Yeddyurappa has lost his stewardship in the light of indictment made by the Karnataka lokayukta in the illegal mining scam which thrived under the BJP dispensation in Karnataka. As a result, the by-election was fought with new Chief Minister Mr. Sadananda Gowda at the helm of affairs, with Yeddyurappa albeit having a dominant voice and role. Yeddyurappa as has been his wont went gung-ho in the campaign to prove interalia that he stills the real boss of the BJP in Karnataka.

            There are already clear signs of the breaking out of an internecine quarrel between the pro and anti Yeddyurappa on sharing the credit for the win in the bye election, the first one to be held after Yeddyurappa demitted the office.

            Even as the reports reached Bangalore about the party’s success,    Mr. Eswarappa  state party president fired first salvo that credit should go to the collective leadership a phrase which has come in vogue in the post Yeddyurappa period in Karnataka.  This was endorsed by Dharmendra Pradhan, the national party secretary who is in charge of Karnataka. But equally quick with reaction was Renukacharya a minister of the BJP government and a maverick crony of Yeddyurappa that it should go to his mentor

            Ever since he was forced to quit, Yeddyurappa has been in a petulant mood. He recently gave went to his anger at a party conclave over the manner in which he was eased out by the party leadership. It is clear that  he is in political dog house in BJPs parlance and the party leadership has frowned upon his move to take out a state wide yatra and earlier it had scotched his move to join the anti corruption demonstration in Karnataka in the wake of Anna Hazare's crusade against corruption.

            Both the central and party leadership of the BJP at the moment are not prepared to give the credit for the victory to the Yeddyurappa for quite obvious reasons. Firstly it would mean primacy of Yeddyurappa in Karnataka affairs which the national party in the present mood is not prepared to concede.  It would present the new Chief Minister and others in a poor light.  Secondly it would also be interpreted as the endorsement of a regime, which had become a byword for corruption, scams and nepotism, which national BJP at this juncture of oncoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and the possibility of the early polls to parliament cannot afford.

            But Yeddyurappa does not like any move to deny him with the credit. He may use this as a plank to pressurize the central party leadership to restore his lost position in the Karnataka government. Ofcourse the national leadership is at the moment appears to be hell bent in keeping Yeddyurappa away.

            But the fact of the matter is that the credit for the success in Koppal goes neither to Yeddyurappa nor to the BJP as a party but to the person concerned, namely the victories candidate Karadi Sanganna.

            He is a locally popular figure and has figured in all the five elections held since 1994 including the present one and has been successful in four under different political label every time.  The first one he won as independent in 1994, the second one as United Janata Dal candidate in 1999, the third one as the Janata Dal (S) candidate in 2008 and the present one on the BJP ticket. He contested the 2004 election on BJP ticket and lost narrowly.

            It is Karadi Sanganna who has served the cause of the BJP rather than the latter doing him any favour. And in BJP quarrel is over the credit for the victory, in which none of them had any major role to play.

            Eom   01.10.2011  9.20 pm