If the truce reached between the two warring factions in the Karnataka unit of the Janata Dal results in better governance in the state, there is reason for cheer. Otherwise, it will make little difference to the lot of the people. The kind of problems the southern state faces can be gauged from the fact that the New Year began with communal riots killing at least seven people. The riots earlier at Surathkal and the efforts to engineer trouble at a well-known Sufi shrine in Chikmagalur clearly show that the communal forces are at work in the region. Their aim seems to be to influence the Assembly elections due in November this year. Far from strengthening law and order, Chief Minister J.H. Patel has been busy settling scores with his bete noire H.D. Deve Gowda. On his part, the former Prime Minister, who is yet to reconcile himself to the loss of power, would like to do some backseat driving. Apart from this, there are no lofty principles or policies involved in their tug-of-war as was made clear bythe deal brokered on Tuesday by the party’s Political Affairs Committee. Under the agreement, while Patel stays as Chief Minister for the rest of the term, Gowda will have his own man, Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, as president of the state Janata Dal. The latter will also be projected as the next Chief Minister. Of course, this is no big achievement for Gowda, who has been campaigning for the last six months for Patel’s removal.A cynical interpretation of Patel’s readiness not to be projected as the future Chief Minister is the recognition that the JD’s chances of retaining power in the state are bleak. The voting trends in successive elections here have not been encouraging for the party. A lot of factors are responsible for the voters’ disenchantment. If four years ago the party could reap the benefits of the industrial strides the state had made, it today has to account for the slide on this very front. Karnataka’s preeminence in the computer sector is being challenged by neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and, to a lesser extent, Tamil Nadu. Most prestigious investments in this sector in recent years have not been in Karnataka, where the government has failed to provide adequate infrastructural facilities even to the existing units. All this had a disastrous effect on the party as underscored by the severe drubbing it received in the last Lok Sabha election.Instead of addressing these problems, the JD leaders have been seeking short cuts. They now seem to lay great store by the fact that its chief ministerial candidate belongs to a backward caste. For a party in power, the key determinant in any election will be its performance and not the caste of its leader, however important the caste factor may be in electoral politics. That the truce is unlikely to last long is clear from the prompt withdrawal of the finance portfolio from Siddaramaiah’s charge. If the past trends are anything to go by, this could indeed mark the beginning of another round of factional skirmishes. A redeeming aspect, from the people’s point of view, is that this kind of internecine fight will not last longer than the elections in November.
