Will it be Congress-JD(S) or BJP-JD(S) govt in Karnataka?
Karnataka Assembly election was a three-way contest. As the last vote is
counted in Karnataka, all the three major parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party,
the Congress, and the Janata Dal (Secular), believe they have a right to stake
claim to form the government. The Congress clearly lost the election, but the BJP could not win it.
The JD(S) retained its core support base, and finished a respectable third.
The Congress wasted no time in reaching out to the JD(S) with a promise
to back its leader H.D. Kumaraswamy for the chief ministership. The BJP made no
overtures to the JD(S). For the JD(S), the Congress offer is too good to be
turned down. Congress just wants to
keep the BJP out of power. Only convention and common sense dictate the actions
of the Governor in a situation where no one party has a majority. It is left to
be seen how Governor Vajubhai Vala will
handle the situation.
Elsewhere one happens to read that if JD-S were to ally here with the
BJP, it would encounter troubles in Northern states like the UP, where JD-S and
Mayawati are to jointly oppose the BJP. However, the other coalition option viz.
JD-S-Congress forming partners also is not without an indomitable hitch. The
very birth of these parties can be attributed to the opposition to the grand
old Congress party. So, any alliance is for the Power and positively not for
the Policies.
Elections should end climax. But if climax is a consequence of results,
happenings are disastrous and breeds corruption. For a stable India, the need
is not necessarily same government at Centre and State but a stable government
in both places. Delayed formation or fall of government due to dissidence in
coalition has serious ramifications, the pinch of which affects people first.
One only hopes Karnataka does not go the J & K way but a government is
formed at the earliest.
The Governor is a former Speaker in Modi cabinet in Gujarat. He has been
handpicked by Modi and sent to Karnataka, and is a trusted Modi loyalist. His
delay in inviting the Congress-JD(S) combine to form the next government raises
a lot of doubts. More delay would only mean that he wants to install a BJP
government in Karnataka and is providing the time the party needs to horse
trade, poach or follow any other measure to cobble up a majority. In Goa,
Manipur, and Meghalaya, the single largest party's claim to form government was
overlooked and BJP governments were installed in these states in violation of
the people's mandate. Ditto in Arunachal Pradesh and Bihar!
Congress desperately needs to be in power given that they are left only
with Punjab and a minor UT like Puducheri.
It is high time that definite solutions are found like accepting Sarkaria
Commission recommendations about the procedure for forming Governments. Though
this may lay down procedure, horse-trading will not stop. The election process
is very costly for a poor country like ours. May be we have elections for Chief
Minister and Prime Ministers only who may choose anyone to be their Ministers
so that making supporters Ministers despite they being unsuited can get
minimised.
Karnataka may witness lot of constitutional crises in the coming days and
governor rule will be keenly watched by politicians as well as experts. The
fact is that both the Congress and the JDS have fewer seats when compared to
the 2013 elections and the outgoing assembly. But what is deplorable in the
behaviour of the JDS which is the utter disregard for providing a stable
government in Karnataka. The post of CM, even if only for a short lived period,
matters everything to Kumaraswamy and nothing else. Even with the support of
the Congress the coalition would have a strength of only 116 and would be
toppled by the withdrawal of support by only 5 or 6 members. On the other hand
the JDS could have formed a stable coalition with the BJP with the combined
support of over 140 members. The Congress will be the ultimate winners as they
are sure to get the post of Deputy CM or similar plum cabinet berths. Not bad
for a party that fared poorly.
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