By D.N. Singh
Whatever is happening in Karnataka is not an abrupt outcome of a political bickering as some would have people believe. From the day one the JD(S)-Congress alliance came to power, it had remained under certain surveillance from outside and a double-think within.
Opposition always mulls narratives to criticise and there is nothing politically wrong. But when it comes to engineer designs to create divides through propaganda and wean away members from their designated positions through lures, that always heads towards a nightmarish future of a democratically formed government, whether alliance or otherwise.
For which the central leaderships, regardless of the party in power, get their intentions trumpeted through the leaders in the states. Almost from day one, H.D. Kumaraswamy led the alliance in Karnataka, the hiccups were audible.
Besides the undecipherable whispers within the alliance, it was B.S. Yeddyurappa who had set the ball rolling through his doublespeak on constitutional discipline etc and simultaneously was not giving up the craze for power. Obviously, he was not doing so without the mandate from the top.
The efforts had started from then and the signs were quite recognisable that there were some dissenting notes in the Congress camp. And certain force was active behind it to fuel the discontent, which once forced chief minister Kumaraswamy to the verge of tears describing the alliance made of ‘poison’.
That was the right time when the alliance should have resorted in hindsight to read the prognosis rightly and bury the hatchet rather than allowing the enemy to foment the discords to a combative situation of today.
“That was the time when the Congress high command should have become active and, given the good relationship between Deve Gowda and Sonia Gandhi, a solution was possible,” said Pramod Raghavan, a senior journalist based in Bengaluru.
Now, “it has reached a state where disintegration seems more likely,” Raghavan said adding that, “stitches may not last long”.
