Karnataka Polls 2018: Easy win at trust vote, but tough reign ahead for Kumaraswamy

HD Kumaraswamy

M Gautham Machaiah

The HD Kumaraswamy government easily won the trust vote on Friday, but the chief minister’s head lies uneasy under the crown: BJP state president BS Yeddyurappa is on the prowl and pinpricks are growing from the Congress party, the ‘junior’ member of the ruling alliance.

Yeddyurappa, who was earlier invited to form the government though his party did not have a simple majority, had to undergo the humiliation of resigning even before moving the motion of confidence in the assembly as he had failed to shore up the required numbers. He is a man in a hurry and is not known to bide his time till the opportune moment.

Instead of graciously accepting defeat and lying low till the dust settled, the BJP chief had on the eve of Friday’s floor test made another last ditch effort to save face by openly appealing to Congress MLAs to revolt. “Congress leaders who are hurt with their party’s decision to align with JD(S) should join hands with BJP. Let us provide good governance and make Karnataka a model state,” he said.

This brazen attempt to encourage defections has not found favour even with senior BJP leaders who believe that Yeddyurappa’s hurry to become the chief minister again is doing more harm than good to the party. Yeddyurappa stands isolated today as many local leaders have not only deserted him, but are actively working against him.

The fact that the BJP walked out of the assembly during the vote of confidence, thus paving an easy win for the new government only proved that it did not have the numbers right from the start. Even before Kumaraswamy’s trust vote, Yeddyurappa, in another act of bravado, had pitched S Suresh Kumar for the Speaker’s post against the JD(S)-Congress nominee Ramesh Kumar. When it became clear that Suresh Kumar’s defeat would create more embarrassment to the party, his candidature was withdrawn at the last minute.

Yeddyurappa’s desperation perhaps stems from the fact that he is now 76 and this could be his last chance to become the chief minister. It is speculated that the BJP might not project him as the chief minister during the next election and the only way for him to catapult to power would be by destabilising the current government.

While Yeddyurappa will continue to lurk, Kumaraswamy also has to contend with his own deputy chief minister G Parameshwara, who is known to speak out of turn. Even before the new government has settled, Parameshwara, a Dalit who has been nursing chief ministerial ambitions, announced that the Congress might not support Kumaraswamy for the full five-year term and may demand its pound of flesh mid-way through. Such discordant notes by some over-ambitious Congress leaders while the rest of the party is putting up a united front are likely to put the coalition in jeopardy.

The next big challenge before the new government would be ministry formation. While there is not much of dissent in the JD(S) camp, the Congress claims it has succeeded in calming its many claimants including senior leader DK Shivakumar, who was sulking for not being suitably rewarded. On the common minimum programme (CMP) too, not much by way of fireworks is expected with the chief minister already making conciliatory moves.

Despite the initial problems, the government has got off to a start, and unless somebody rocks the boat from within or out, the sailing promises to be smooth — at least for the time being.

(The author is a political commentator and a senior journalist)

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