A revival of snapped ties between the BJP and JD(S) in Karnataka holds little hope for the state. The allies have been too openly and too recently hostile to each other. The motives for their breaking apart a few weeks ago and their proposed coming together now are too transparently mercenary. First the JD(S) refused to abide by the power-sharing agreement forged 20 months ago to transfer chief ministership to the BJP. As reason, it could only weakly offer a terribly belated awakening to the BJP’s “communal” core. Having brought down the government and enforced president’s rule, now that it has proclaimed another change of heart, the reason is unedifying again. It is not a renewed commitment to the political partnership or the people of the state that brings the party back into the agreement it reneged on. It is because without the glue of power, it looked like the party may not hold. Of course, it now looks like the JD(S) may split regardless.For the BJP, a renewed political alliance with the JD(S), or its rump, is a particularly sterile idea. As the national party in the equation, it has more at stake. Admittedly the prize of the first chief ministership south of the Vindhyas is seductive. Yet the party must consider what it stands to lose if things go awry with the entirely unpredictable JD(S) leadership again. Though the BJP stood third in the recent civic polls earlier this month, the results showed that it had gained ground in the districts and regions dominated by the JD(S) and Congress.In other words, the BJP has a choice: it could go along with the JD(S) again and take on the uphill task of running a government with an unprincipled ally. Or it could work on extending its political appeal in Karnataka in preparation for becoming the second pole of the state’s polity if or when the JD(S) collapses under the weight of its own incoherence.
