Hegde8217;s dilemma

It is not at all surprising to find Ramakrishna Hegde's absence from Karnataka is already sapping the morale of his supporters who are urgin...

It is not at all surprising to find Ramakrishna Hegde8217;s absence from Karnataka is already sapping the morale of his supporters who are urging him to return to state politics. The response from the Union Commerce Minister is carefully phrased but gives them no comfort. He is ready to come back, he said, if his party and the BJP insist. This does not rule out a more active role for him at some future date. All it suggests is the time is not judged to be opportune just now for toppling the State Government. One reason is the opprobrium the attempt would bring to the BJP coalition government at the Centre which, in the midst of trying to settle down, cannot risk alarming regional politicians. Another is the conflict over tactics between Hegde8217;s followers and BJP leaders at state level. The former would be content to try and pick up the pieces if the Janata Dal government were to fall but the latter have been saying, for the record at least, they prefer dissolution of the Assembly in that event.

The plight ofHegde8217;s nominally apolitical Rashtriya Navanirmana Vedike is of its own making. It is a peculiar entity, an undeclared claimant for power in the state whose only methods can be conspiratorial and destabilising. During its short existence its purpose has been to serve as the staging post for a bloodless coup by drawing away Janata Dal legislators from the J. H. Patel Ministry. Without the charismatic Hegde to lead it and attract fresh followers, the Vedike finds itself stranded on the drawbridge. It cannot retreat nor go forward. At the same time, fractious as it is, the Janata Dal is attempting to lift the drawbridge and send the Vedike tumbling into the abyss. That Patel managed to round up all 117 JD MLAs in the 224-member House as well as 13 associates for the vote of thanks on the Governor8217;s address is one early sign of how things are going. Another is the Lok Shakti8217;s inability to manoeuvre a Rajya Sabha nomination for one of its members.

Hegde has a serious dilemma here. Neither Jeevraj Alva nor R.V.Deshpande show the leadership qualities to hold the Vedike together or pursue its agenda of raiding the Janata Dal. If Hegde himself remains inactive too long he risks being accused by his followers of having used the Vedike to launch his second career in New Delhi and then left it to its own poor devices in Karnataka. On the other hand, pushing too hard for change in the state would most likely not be productive for him or his two outfits. He would be wise to draw on the lesson from the Lok Sabha poll which shows that both the BJP and the Congress made gains at the expense of the Janata Dal and the Hegde faction. It is possible that quarrelsome leaders of the State Janata Dal will not learn anything from the experience and push the party further along the route to disintegration. But as far as Hegde is concerned, he cannot afford to actively hasten the process without doing his own standing in the state considerable harm. Karnataka has lived with political uncertainty for far too long. It needs peace andstability to get on with its business.