Opinion Hanging on by a thread

Last week,the BJP completed four years of governance in Karnataka. It was an occasion for the party to celebrate its extended rule in the first southern state it captured. Instead,Gowda declared that there will be rejoicing.

Just as well,perhaps,because the BJP has nothing to show for the four years of its existence other than the fact that it has managed to hang on to power by the barest thread. “Cheerless” would be a fair rating on the BJP’s report card in Karnataka,though many would be prone to write “dismal”.

In the past four years in Karnataka,various players in the party and in the government have behaved like an immature,ill-behaved bunch of spoilt children. At every phase,dissidence has dogged the government. And the key players in Karnataka’s BJP have rushed off to meet party leaders in Delhi to help sort their mess.

Until recently,the government and its ministers appeared to feature in a scandal-a-month marathon. From ministers facing rape charges to an MLA whose wife fled from the marriage (and whose body was later discovered hanging in an apartment in New Delhi),to legislators watching pornographic videos in the assembly,the BJP has been all shades of inglorious.

Corruption has been another thing altogether for this BJP government. More than one minister has been dispatched to jail for shady land scams. Former chief ministers and ministers have been charged in land and mining deals. Ministers,bureaucrats,police officials and their kith and kin have all gifted themselves government land,and these skeletons have tumbled out of the cupboard with great frequency.

When Yeddyurappa was CM,he was hounded by dissidence and was finally forced to relinquish his seat in August last year after being named in the mining scam investigation — but not before he anointed his political lightweight of a supporter,Sadananda Gowda. Now the ever-petulant Yeddyurappa is firmly on the other side of the fence,stoking dissidence against this very appointee whom he recently called “traitor”. Yeddyurappa has a flock of legislators on the ready with resignations in hand,all set to quit at his merest signal.

It is a miracle that the BJP government has lasted four years despite such high drama. Perhaps the party’s leadership in Delhi can take some of the credit for keeping the Karnataka government together. But then the same Delhi leadership is accused of stoking dissidence from time to time.

In all this,that vital element — governing — has been ignored by the two CMs. At best,the government can be said to be chalta hai,with a CM who wakes up in the morning not knowing whether he will last in his chair that day.

For instance,later this week CM Gowda will preside over a Global Investors Meet (GIM) in Bangalore. Instead of the lavish jamboree staged by his predecessor,Gowda says that this year’s meet will be a mini-event with focus on small ticket investments and regional level investment in the districts.

The response from investors to the second edition of Karnataka’s GIM has been less than fervent and that can only partly be due to the pervading economic environment. As Gowda’s luck would have it,American billionaire investor Warren Buffett,who was invited to do the honours at the meet,will not make an appearance.

The CM’s cabinet expansion is another much-delayed exercise as pro- and anti-Yeddyurappa factions in Karnataka slug it out. Nearly a dozen cabinet ministerial positions are vacant. Quite apart from the politics of it,the vacancies can only mean that the barest minimum work is being executed in those departments.

If he survives the dogged Yeddyurappa’s machinations for the next three months,Gowda will soon mark his one year in office. Of late,as dissidence against him has intensified,the canny Gowda’s smiling face is showing some marks of wear and tear.

With just a year to go to the assembly elections,Karnataka’s BJP does need to get its act together. More importantly in the coming year,Karnataka needs a hands-on CM and a government that does not merely exist.

saritha.rai@expressindia.com