Karnataka: Coalition that rode to power with trust vote loses another
Both Kumaraswamy and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who have been rivals for decades, reluctantly ran the government, and the friction between the two parties starting emerging.
BJP state president BS Yeddyurappa with party MLAs in Karnataka Assembly on Tuesday. (PTI)
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On May 17 last year, the Congress-JD(S) combine — which joined hands after the hung verdict in Karnataka — had made a last-ditch effort to stall the BJP surge in the state with a pre-dawn hearing in the Supreme Court. The apex court had swiftly ordered that then Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa prove his majority within 24 hours.
On the sidelines, nervous that their own legislators would be poached, the leaders of the coalition had acted quickly and made their newly elected MLAs board buses for an overnight journey to Kochi. And within 48 hours, the Congress-JD(S) coalition ensured the defeat of the BJP government.
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On May 25 that year, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, asserting that he would complete the five-year term, had sailed through the trust vote, with 118 legislators voting in favour of the coalition.
Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy leaves after attending the Assembly session at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru (PTI Photo/Shailendra Bhojak)
However, 14 months later, the final episode of the coalition government in Karnataka was an anti-climax. The Congress, which had earlier emerged the winner after herding its flock of MLAs to a private resort ahead of the trust vote, was beaten in the “resort politics” game on Tuesday. On display was the failure of senior coalition leaders to bring back their 16 rebel MLAs —- locked up in Mumbai — to the fold. The result: from 118, the number dropped to 99 legislators, who voted in the favour of the Kumaraswamy government.
Kumaraswamy had taken oath at a ceremony that was attended by a clutch of national leaders opposed to the Narendra Modi-led BJP government. The ceremony showcased opposition unity just a year before Lok Sabha elections. In attendance were Sonia Gandhi, Mayawati, Mamata Banerjee, N Chandrababu Naidu, Akhilesh Yadav and Sitaram Yechury.
HD Kumaraswamy submits his resignation to Karnataka Governor, Vajubhai Vala (ANI Photo)
However, the show of unity did not last. Both Kumaraswamy and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who have been rivals for decades, reluctantly ran the government, and the friction between the two parties starting emerging. In January, the Congress moved its MLAs to a resort in Bengaluru after four MLAs including Ramesh Jarkiholi skipped a Congress Legislative Party meeting.
There was an open tussle between the Congress and JD(S) during seat-sharing negotiations for Lok Sabha polls, with Kumaraswamy demanding 12 seats for his party. And the election results were a major setback. Senior leaders such as G T Deve Gowda kicked up a row by saying that JD(S) workers voted for BJP in Mysore region. This marked the beginning of the end of the coalition. This was followed by Kumaraswamy’s ministers openly criticising cabinet decisions.
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On the other hand, the state BJP was in full gear with the alleged “Operation Kamala” ahead of Lok Sabha elections. The party led by Yeddyurappa took all its MLAs to a hotel in Gurgaon, but the operation was aborted abruptly and 104 MLAs made to return to the state.
With a resounding victory in the Lok Sabha polls, and with defections from the Congress, it seemed inevitable that the BJP would win the trust vote.
Kaunain Sheriff M is an award-winning investigative journalist and the National Health Editor at The Indian Express. He is the author of Johnson & Johnson Files: The Indian Secrets of a Global Giant, an investigation into one of the world’s most powerful pharmaceutical companies.
With over a decade of experience, Kaunain brings deep expertise in three areas of investigative journalism: law, health, and data. He currently leads The Indian Express newsroom’s in-depth coverage of health.
His work has earned some of the most prestigious honours in journalism, including the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Award, and the Mumbai Press Club’s Red Ink Award.
Kaunain has also collaborated on major global investigations. He was part of the Implant Files project with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which exposed malpractices in the medical device industry across the world. He also contributed to an international investigation that uncovered how a Chinese big-data firm was monitoring thousands of prominent Indian individuals and institutions in real time.
Over the years, he has reported on several high-profile criminal trials, including the Hashimpura massacre, the 2G spectrum scam, and the coal block allocation case. Within The Indian Express, he has been honoured three times with the Indian Express Excellence Award for his investigations—on the anti-Sikh riots, the Vyapam exam scam, and the abuse of the National Security Act in Uttar Pradesh. ... Read More
