Union Cabinet to BJP: Wish you a happy Diwali
The BJP is set to have its first chief minister in south India as the union cabinet, while accepting Mr B S Yediyurappa’s claims that he had the numbers to form the next government in Karnataka, recommended the revocation of President’s rule in th...
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: The BJP is set to have its first chief minister in south India as the union cabinet, while accepting Mr B S Yediyurappa’s claims that he had the numbers to form the next government in Karnataka, recommended the revocation of President’s rule in the state.
Mr Yediyurappa, who commands the support of 129 MLAs, including 80 belonging to his own party, the BJP, and 49 of the JD(S), in an assembly which has a total strength of 224, is likely to sworn in as the state’s next chief minister on Monday. With this, the five-week-long political drama that had come to play in the southern state following Mr H D Kumaraswamy’s refusal to hand over the chief minister’s baton to the BJP in keeping with the pact agreed upon by the two parties a little over 20 months ago, has come to an end.
While the BJP may have succeeded in realising its dream of installing its first-ever chief minister in the south, there was simultaneously a realisation that running a coalition government with the help of the father-son duo of H D Deve Gowda and H D Kumaraswamy, who were widely perceived to be very slippery customers, would be a very difficult task.
Having managed to stave off a threat from the Congress, the BJP and JD(S) are likely to engage themselves in the primary task of expanding their socio-political base in the state. This is certain to trigger a turf-war between the two parties. Moreover, the father-son duo is certain to extract its pound of flesh, in terms of plum portfolios and also additional berths in the council of ministers.
In the 2004 general election, the BJP had managed to win 18 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats falling in the state. In the assembly polls held simultaneously, the saffron outfit emerged as the largest player, bagging 79 seats in a House of 224. The challenge before Mr Yediyurappa will be to ensure that the BJP does not lose its sheen in the next 20 months and the cadre’s morale remains high, to enable the party to improve upon, or even maintain, its electoral track-record. Mr Yediyurappa, who hails from numerically-powerful Lingayat community, is not exactly known for his administrative skills, and he’s certain to have a tough time handling the pulls and pressures of a coalition government.
The party, nevertheless, was elated with the day’s developments, and welcomed the Centre’s decision to revoke President’s Rule in Karnataka, but added at the same time that the move lacked “grace” because it came after an “inordinate and unnecessary” delay.
Asked about the flip-flop by Mr Deve Gowda and his son, he said the coalition will learn lessons from the past experience and pointed out that the former chief minister Kumaraswamy had made it clear that his party’s support to the BJP was “unconditional”.
Mr Yediyurappa, who commands the support of 129 MLAs, including 80 belonging to his own party, the BJP, and 49 of the JD(S), in an assembly which has a total strength of 224, is likely to sworn in as the state’s next chief minister on Monday. With this, the five-week-long political drama that had come to play in the southern state following Mr H D Kumaraswamy’s refusal to hand over the chief minister’s baton to the BJP in keeping with the pact agreed upon by the two parties a little over 20 months ago, has come to an end.
While the BJP may have succeeded in realising its dream of installing its first-ever chief minister in the south, there was simultaneously a realisation that running a coalition government with the help of the father-son duo of H D Deve Gowda and H D Kumaraswamy, who were widely perceived to be very slippery customers, would be a very difficult task.
Having managed to stave off a threat from the Congress, the BJP and JD(S) are likely to engage themselves in the primary task of expanding their socio-political base in the state. This is certain to trigger a turf-war between the two parties. Moreover, the father-son duo is certain to extract its pound of flesh, in terms of plum portfolios and also additional berths in the council of ministers.
In the 2004 general election, the BJP had managed to win 18 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats falling in the state. In the assembly polls held simultaneously, the saffron outfit emerged as the largest player, bagging 79 seats in a House of 224. The challenge before Mr Yediyurappa will be to ensure that the BJP does not lose its sheen in the next 20 months and the cadre’s morale remains high, to enable the party to improve upon, or even maintain, its electoral track-record. Mr Yediyurappa, who hails from numerically-powerful Lingayat community, is not exactly known for his administrative skills, and he’s certain to have a tough time handling the pulls and pressures of a coalition government.
The party, nevertheless, was elated with the day’s developments, and welcomed the Centre’s decision to revoke President’s Rule in Karnataka, but added at the same time that the move lacked “grace” because it came after an “inordinate and unnecessary” delay.
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“It is a historic day because the BJP is getting an opportunity to form it’s first-ever government in south India, especially in the politically important state of Karnataka,” party vice-president Yashwant Sinha, who is in-charge of the state, said. He sought to downplay fresh irritants in the BJP-JD(S) combine and said the coalition government will work for the welfare of Karnataka and make its capital Bangalore a world-class city.Asked about the flip-flop by Mr Deve Gowda and his son, he said the coalition will learn lessons from the past experience and pointed out that the former chief minister Kumaraswamy had made it clear that his party’s support to the BJP was “unconditional”.
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