When will the BJP in Karnataka change the subject from itself,address the peoples needs? Sadananda Gowda has resigned and Jagadish Shettar will be sworn in as chief minister,but the BJP in Karnataka is still far away from a happy ending. It isnt just that Shettar is going to be the third BJP chief minister in one year. Or that the intra-party tug-of-war is now joined by Gowda the man who started off as B.S. Yeddyurappas choice to replace him as CM,who then turned into Yeddyurappas rival and is now,almost overnight,a Vokkaliga leader in his own right. Gowda joins the factional war armed with his own cache of loyal MLAs and powers of bargaining and blackmail. It isnt just that with assembly elections due next year,the BJP government is set to be convulsed all over again by wrangling over cabinet berths and the constitution of committees. At the bottom of it,the story of the BJP-in-Karnataka is about a party that has frittered away the possibilities of building on its first foray into a southern state. It is a sad saga starring too many chief ministers and a sharpened caste polarisation,a receding governance agenda and a fraying pact between political representatives and the people. There has traditionally been rivalry between Karnatakas dominant castes,the Vokkaligas and the Lingayats. When it came to power four years ago,the BJPs success was seen to be anchored in the Lingayat vote,while the Vokkaligas were considered to be more partial to the JD(S). But the protracted bickering between BJP leaders has given a brand new edge to the enduring caste competition. With Yeddyurappa seen as the main mobiliser of the Lingayats,and the partys central leadership repeatedly caving in to his blackmail,the BJP may have acquired the tag of a Lingayat party. In the end,however,next years elections may well hinge on larger questions. For instance,what counts more when the voter casts her vote allegations of corruption and infighting that have scarred the BJP governments tenure,or the populist schemes and doles launched by Yeddyurappa followed by the general toning up of the administration under Gowda? The new chief minister,Jagadish Shettar,may not have the time to make an impression. If the BJP wants to change the subject to governance,it has no time to lose. There is a drought-like situation in parts of Karnataka. The ruling partys preoccupation with itself so far has meant that there is little political monitoring of vital relief measures and programmes,and hardly any political outreach. The party can remain so self-absorbed only at its own peril.
