Karnataka's Political Mess

Just 4 years back when the BJP formed it's first government in South India, BJP central leaders had plans of projecting the state on the lines of Gujarat. But what the state has seen since then is history- extreme cases of nepotism, casteism and corruption. None of the 3 CMs the state has seen since the BJP came to power delivered on their promises. The BJP government became a talking-point of corruption and a flag-bearer of misgovernance. The people of the state had to bend their heads in shame in front of the nation's eyes.

The BJP which never tasted success in South India grew from strength-to-strength in Karnataka for the following 4 reasons.
1. Death of Ramakrishna Hegde- Ramakrishna Hegde had an alliance with the BJP at the national level when he passed away. He was very popular especially among the Lingayats. The BJP filled the leadership vacuum after his passing away by taking in most of his supporters and built the party organisation very well using RSS' organisational capabilities. The popularity of Vajpayee led NDA also helped the party's standing in the state.
2. Kumarswamy's failure to transfer power to BSY- This was seen by many especially by the Lingayats as a plot against them and they sided with the BJP as the state hadn't seen a Lingayat CM since JH Patel.
3. Bellary brothers- The Reddy brothers invested heavily in the 2008 elections and helped form the BJP government to protect their business interests.
4. Good strategy- Arun Jaitley did a fantastic job by coupling RSS' organisational capabilities, sympathy factor, caste equations and Bellary mining money.
The combination of all the above factors delivered a victory for the BJP.

The BJP is solely responsible for the mess the state is currently in. The BJP has to do a face-saving act by immediately dissolving the assembly and seek early elections. It cannot even dream of coming to power on it's own in the next 5 years in the state. The central leadership should instead ask the state leadership to sit in the opposition and work over-time for the 2014 parliamentary elections to contribute maximum number of MPs to make Narendra Modi the PM.

Personally, I am a huge fan of RSS, Narendra Modi and Advani but I'm disgusted at the state of affairs in the Karnataka BJP which is full of mediocrity. Congress in the state suffers from the same problem since it's central leadership does not encourage strong leaders at the state level. The only choice for the people now is HD Kumarswamy. Once led by mighty politicians such as S Nijalingappa, Devraj Urs, Ramakrishna Hegde who had earned a name for themselves even outside the state, we're now reduced to choosing the best among the worst. Please cast your vote consciously in the next assembly elections in the state and let us collectively push mediocrity out of Karnataka's political system.

Photo Courtesy: The Hindu, Outlook India