Karnataka Elections: Party-hoppers prove that power is the only constant, ideologies can be traded overnight

As many as five former Karnataka CMs have changed parties just ahead of this year's elections.

“Ideology has very little to do with consciousness – it is profoundly unconscious,” said French Philosopher Louis Althusser. This would aptly apply to politicians in Karnataka who oscillate between ideologies with the ease of a pendulum, while their morals take a nap.

Party hopping in the state is as common as having “idli-vade” for breakfast. Yet, the manner in which some leaders have casually discarded the beliefs, ideals, principles and convictions that they stood for throughout their lives, for the sake of political expediency, has shaken the collective conscience of the society.

2023’s BJP Switcheroos

The most glaring of them all was former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar’s “tectonic shift” from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to Congress after he was refused a ticket to contest from Hubli-Dharwad Central. Born to a Sangh Parivar family, Shettar who won his first election as an MLA in 1994, went on to become a minister, Speaker, opposition leader, BJP state-unit president and even the chief minister. But it took him less than 24 hours to shed his saffron robes and embrace Congress which he had all along opposed.

Shettar was preceded by another senior leader Laxman Savadi who too was denied the BJP ticket. Savadi, a three-term MLA from Athani in Belagavi district, had to resign as minister from the Yediyurappa cabinet in 2012 after being caught  watching porn in the Assembly. Though he lost the 2018 elections to Mahesh Kumathalli of Congress, the BJP made him an MLC and promoted him as deputy chief minister.

But destiny would have other plans. In 2019, Kumathalli would quit as Congress MLA and join BJP along with about 14 other legislators as part of ‘Operation Kamala’ and would go on to win the by-elections the same year.  The BJP would have no option but to field Kumathalli this time too, but Savadi would insist on a ticket though he was accommodated in the upper house. The Congress which was brutal on him over the porn video episode would quickly forgive him and grant him a ticket.

When Defection Pays 

Changing course midstream has proven to be beneficial for many politicians. Basavaraj Bommai, for instance, would never have become the chief minister had he not quit the Janata Parivar in 2008. Within just about 13 years of joining BJP, he was made the chief minister, even as many other seniors who had built the party from scratch were waiting in the wings.

Similarly, Siddaramaiah who joined the Congress in 2006 after spending most of his political career with the Janata Parivar became the chief minister in 2013, sidelining other original Congressmen. Siddaramaiah’s hand was forced after he was sacked as deputy chief minister in the Dharam Singh cabinet and was subsequently expelled from Janata Dal (Secular) by party supremo HD Deve Gowda.

Nobody, of course, could beat the record of former chief minister S Bangarappa, who changed parties about a dozen times, though there are many other such  interesting cases.

Whither Political Morality

One such instance is that of Legislative Council Chairman and eight-time MLC Basavaraj Horatti who ended his long association with Janata Parivar at the age of 76. Having realised that JD (S) did not have the numbers to get him re-elected, Horatti joined BJP and once again became the Chairman.

Five-time Congress MLA Baburao Chinchansur left the party after he lost the 2018 assembly elections and joined BJP which got him elected to the Legislative Council just a few months ago. Now, he is back in the Congress after resigning as MLC. YSV Datta quit the JD (S) in January this year to join the Congress. In April, he went back to his parent party after being denied a ticket by Congress.

The most curious case, however,  is that of SM Krishna (now, 90) who after a long and distinguished innings at the Congress joined the BJP in 2017, at the fag end of his political life. Rumours that he took the decision to save his son-in-law VG Siddhartha Hegde, the Chairman of Cafe Coffee Day, later proved to be false. While the Income Tax department would raid CCD, Siddhartha who was neck deep in debt would die by suicide. Krishna himself would be totally sidelined by BJP.

While some politicians change parties due unavoidable political compulsions, in most other cases, the ideology that they so proudly wear on their sleeves, is meant to be sacrificed at the altar of ambition. Even as ordinary workers who have shed their sweat and blood for them are left high and dry by their sudden departure, for the leaders, personal aggrandisement comes before political morality.

Gautham Machaiah is a senior journalist and political commentator based in Bengaluru. Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.