Post-poll tremors

The kind of violence witnessed during the election of the leader of the BJP legislature party in Karnataka is normally associated with no...

The kind of violence witnessed during the election of the leader of the BJP legislature party in Karnataka is normally associated with non-cadre parties like the Congress and the Janata Dal. It is, therefore, an irony that while the Congress could elect S.M. Krishna chief minister in a remarkably smooth manner, the election of Jagadish Shettar as leader of the opposition saw violence of the worst kind witnessed in such events. The prompt disciplinary action against B.B. Shivappa, who unsuccessfully challenged Shettar in the contest for the BJP legislature party leadership, shows that the central leadership has not taken a lenient view of the happenings in Bangalore.

Nonetheless, it cannot pretend that it has been taken unawares by the ugly incidents. As it is, Shivappa8217;s rebellion and the resulting violence were provoked by the questionable manner in which leadership was denied to him.

It is true that in the election, he lost by a huge margin to Shettar, who is a comparatively new leader. But then, itwas not exactly a direct contest between the two leaders. Pitted against Shivappa was the entire state leadership of the BJP, which saw a challenge to its authority in his candidacy. Small wonder that he lost by a huge margin.

Shettar8217;s election shows that the Karnataka BJP, which received a drubbing in the recent elections to the state Assembly, will undergo little change. In fact, many believe that the primary task of the leader of the opposition is to keep the chair warm for BJP strongman B.S. Yediyurappa till he gets elected to the House through a by-election. It is a reflection of the control Yediyurappa, who had been projected as the party8217;s chief ministerial candidate, continues to exercise over the state unit of the party despite his own ignominious defeat in his home constituency of Shikaripura. By sticking to the presidentship of the state unit, he refuses to accept the political reality in Karnataka. His oft-repeated plea that it was the last-minute electoral understanding with the Janata Dal Uthat pro-ved costly to the party in the elections does not carry conviction. The drubbing the BJP received, particularly when a pro-Vajpayee feeling was discernible among the voters in the rest of the country, would not have been possible but for the alienation of some sections of its potential voters.

A recognition of this would necessitate Yediyurappa owning responsibility for the party8217;s defeat. It is on the same ground of owning responsibility that a section of the partymen are asking for a change of leadership in Uttar Pradesh. The party cannot treat the two states differently.

However detestable the violent incident may be, it should be seen as the price the BJP has to pay for its spectacular growth. It is no longer the ideologically-driven, cadre-based party of yore where discipline mattered more than anything else. Over the years, the party has attracted to its fold heterogeneous elements, mostly from parties like the Congress and the Janata Dal. Thanks to such a growth the BJP now has a largerpresence all over the country and is fully entrenched in power at the Centre and in many states. But then, success has a flip side to it, as the cantankerous Karnataka leaders prove beyond a shadow of doubt.